Customer Reviews

Thinking About Memoir (AARP)

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

"Be honest, dig deep or don't bother," says Abigail Thomas in her charming new book, Thinking About Memoir. Like a rambling conversation with a close friend, this 128-page guide is short on techniques and long on advice and personal stories from the author's own life as a writer. It teaches by showing, rather than telling.

Thomas' gentle humor is evident throughout, as when she describes childhood memories of tearing dolls apart with her sister and throwing the body parts out the window of their moving car, or pounding on the lovebirds' cage to stop their singing.

More than once as I was reading along, engrossed in scenes from her trip to Belize or a cell phone conversation overheard on the train, I was surprised by a lovely sentence like this one: "Memory seems to be an independent creature inspired by an event, not faithful to it." Or this: "I'm old enough now to know that the past is every bit as unpredictable as the future." To a sixty-something memoir writer like me, these words offered reassurance and encouragement. Even if my memory of an event is vague, I can still write about it!

Thomas advises us to stick to the details and let the larger story tell itself, without trying to control or direct it. She advises "losing" abstract nouns and including as many specific details as possible in any story. And far from being discouraged when she found herself passionately writing bits and pieces with no narrative flow, she kept at it. "I never cross-examine the muse," she says.

As if to illustrate her point, most chapters contain scenes from her daily life--bidding on eBay, eating ice cream, taking her dog to the vet--followed by (loosely) related writing prompts. The exercises apply not just to memoirs; they could be used for personal essays as well.

In her own writing practice, Thomas prefers the term "diary" to "journal" which she believes implies always writing for publication, whereas a diary can mean any notes at all, including recipes. She has kept diaries all her life, preferring moleskin-covered notebooks to any other kind.

In Thinking About Memoir, we learn almost as much about the book's writer as we do about writing. She is a sister, mother and grandmother, daughter of a famous scientist, and a recent widow who was married three times. A real woman you might like to know, Thomas is an avid observer of the ordinary moments of life: having coffee with a friend; reading the newspaper; trying to learn pilates; rescuing a dog from a fence. These are the moments that shed light on who we are. They are the ones we must write about.

Thinking About Memoir is the first volume in the "Arts of Living" series from the AARP.

by Linda Wisniewski
for Story Circle Book Reviews
reviewing books by, for, and about women

A completely charming book about memoirs encouraging you to write your life stories. Captivating stories, fascinating vignettes, and superb writing combine to make this an inspiring book. Her writing exercise suggestions are interesting enough to tempt even non-writers and provide more experienced writers a great chance to warm up.

"Writing memoirs is a way to figure out who you used to be and how you got to be who you are." Based on this book, I am looking forward to other titles in this AARP "Arts of Living" series. I only wish that this quite small book was twice as long!

"What is memoir? How do you write one? What if you can't remember anything, or worse, what if you remember it all?"

"AARP The Magazine" has started publishing an "Art of Living" series of books, and this passage begins Abigail Thomas's excellent contribution. She shares lessons about how to get started and stay motivated while writing your own personal history.

Thomas helps wannabe writers find a "side door" with writing exercises. It's great fun to watch her apply her hints in practice: "Trust the work to find its own way," Example: "take any 10 years of your life and reduce them to two pages. Every sentence has to be three words long--not two, not four, but three words long. You discover there's nowhere to hide in three-word sentences."

Other useful hints:

Cut ruthlessly.

Write every day.

"Make a start".

I really enjoyed this book, but also consult Writing Life Stories: How To Make Memories Into Memoirs, Ideas Into Essays And Life Into Literature by Bill Roorbach. One of his first writing exercises was to make a map of the earliest neighborhood I could remember. It was fascinating to compare the map I came up with against an aerial map published by the government.

These two fine books use a similar approach, but each writer has their own distinctive "voice", just as you will if you take their advice and just "make a start".


Robert C. Ross 2008

I was a little aprehensive when this book arrived in the mail and it was so small. However, I'd read an excerpt from it in a magazine and was curious, so I gave it a go -- and I'm glad I did. This author shows that you don't have to multiple a lot of words to get the point across, and by being so succinct in her presentation I found myself becoming actively involved in the process to make the book very meaningful for me. I've marked up my copy of the book with notes and will return to it as I start writing my own memoirs.

Too much of this book seemed like I'd stumbled across her diary and was now reading it. Which can be a lot of fun, BUT...it wasn't very interesting. Some of her personal stories seemed shoe-horned to fit her point. The exercises were all right, not very challenging or original though. I liked it well enough because it got me to think about the format of memoir, but I think that this book should be very clearly marketed to beginning writers.

In her book, "Thinking About Memoir," Abigail Thomas vanquishes a lot of preconceived notions of what a memoir should be. After reading her little book and doing some of the exercises, I went back to my memoir which I had started ten years ago with renewed energy and perspective. Her book is a great release and shows how to make it a true accounting of your life.

If you need writing prompts this is the book for you. However, you won't find much in it about nuts and bolts of writing a memoir.

Abigail Thomas makes me fall in love with writing. She makes me want to write. Her words seem so simple and one word leads to another and the next thing you know, she's told some big deep stories in such a friendly way. I first read her work in "Bird by Bird" and immediately went out and got her books. She has a way of making everything seem possible. Her writing voice is so honest and poignant and funny and full of mischief. She reminds me of what it means to be a writer: that we look at everything and take it all in and then process it with our filters and our hearts and our own way with language. My takeaways from her book: Write two pages about writing an online book review. Write two pages about the boy who leaned against a locker when you were ten and beamed love at you. Write two pages about the history of rice in your life. Write two pages about stalling to make a doctor's appointment. Write two pages about all the houses you've visited and the towels in the bathrooms. I love this book and I love Abigail Thomas and her juicy heart, her encouragement to work with whatever is on hand, whatever resonates on the inside. What a gift her writing is.

Although a small book it is more thoughtful and deeper than the recent Natalie Goldberg tome. Thomas is a completely honest writer, very affirming for those of us who aspire to this style. When she gives the instructions at the end of each chapter it is clear that they are ideas and not the main point of the book.

I expected more. I learned just as much from the review/excerpt in AARP magazine as I did from the book.
Vincent