Never in a Hurry: Essays on People and Places [Paperback]

Naomi Shihab Nye (Author)

Editorial Reviews

From School Library Journal

YA-This collection of essays is an excellent addition to any library. Nye is a Palestinian American, married to a Swedish American, and has lived much of her life in San Antonio, TX. The essays are autobiographical reflections of people and places she has encountered throughout her life. She and her parents lived in Jerusalem for a year until the Six-Day War caused them to flee back to the United States; Nye and her husband have returned to her ancestral country on several occasions. The essays are short, quiet reflections on a variety of subjects. The author has the ability to perceive and describe her surroundings so skillfully that readers are drawn into these experiences and are enriched in the process. Such essays as "Favorite Cleaners, San Antonio" help readers step back, slow down, and contemplate the everyday role of the all too familiar in one's life. This collection is guaranteed to make YAs laugh, cry, reflect, or think about life from another point of view. Literature by and about the Arab experience in America is rare; to discover a well-written collection suitable for young adults is a joy.
Dottie Kraft, formerly at Fairfax County Public Schools, VA
Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Booklist

Nye is a Palestinian American poet whose world anthologies, such as This Same Sky (1992), have brought a host of new voices to American readers. Her picture book Sitti's Secrets (1994), about an American child's visit to her grandmother on the West Bank, is clearly autobiographical, and several of the lyrical essays and memoirs in this stirring collection draw on her experience across borders. The power of her writing is in the personal particulars, loving and rueful, whether she's talking about cleaning house in San Antonio, where she lives with her husband and son, or about the fun of gossip, or about the anguish in her six long years of infertility. It's the absence of rhetoric that makes unforgettable the scene where she returns with her father (the refugee) to his childhood home in Jerusalem and finds a friendly, innocent New Yorker (the settler) moving in. They like each other. Hazel Rochman

Product Details

• Paperback: 253 pages
• Publisher: University of South Carolina Press (April 1996)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1570030820
• ISBN-13: 978-1570030826
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 6 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #239,697 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Naomi Shihab Nye, poet, essayist, anthologist, has been a recipient of writing fellowships from the Lannan Foundation, the Guggenheim Foundation and the Witter Bynner Foundation/Library of Congress. Author of more than twenty volumes, her recent books inc

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

14 of 18 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Wonderful book!, June 18, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Never in a Hurry: Essays on People and Places (Paperback)

Her essays read like poetry. This book is wonderful

6 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Book for All Ages, December 12, 2002

By 

Helen Metropoulos (Modesto,, California United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Never in a Hurry: Essays on People and Places (Paperback)

Naomi Shihab Nye is a bridge-builder. She reaches out to those of other cultures, and always expresses understanding of those sometimes forgotten in our society. A good book for all ages!

8 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars never in a hurry to review, November 27, 2000

By 

E. Treants "tree" (Sophia, NC USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Never in a Hurry: Essays on People and Places (Paperback)

Possibly the best book in this genre. Nye's essays are thought provoking because they could happen in any of our lives. If you are going to be stranded on an island, take this book with you.