Selected Misdemeanors: Essays at the Mercy of the Reader
The essays in Selected Misdemeanors: Essays at the Mercy of the Reader are unapologetic word grenades lobbed into an otherwise complacent forgetfulness. They focus on pivotal, often fleeting moments that define the course of a life, such as a fraught family vacation; an evening watching the Chippendale dancers' extravaganza; a Pac Man-and-bourbon-fueled rumination on failed relationships; and the way melodramatic movies such as Rome Adventure shape an adolescent's idea of love. These essays imbue minimalist forms with maximalist emotions, with an unrepentant, no-holds-barred attitude. This directness triggers transformation. Each explored action in this collection produces the Butterfly Effect with seemingly quotidian events rippling into emotional tsunamis.
~~
"A master essayist, Sue William Silverman harnesses all at her disposal--poetry, photographs, film, and most of all, her luminous and lyrical prose--to resurrect memory and interrogate loneliness, longing, and loss. The result is a full-throated, gorgeous, multi-layered meditation on obsession and desire. The heat rises off the page."--Sonja Livingston, author of Ghostbread
~~
"Sue William Silverman refreshes the idea that insight is best found in the granules. From piece to piece this book constructs a constellation of wonder, each point of light written with resilience, wit, heartbreak, and a stunning forthrightness."--Paul Lisicky, author of Song So Wild and Blue: A Life with the Music of Joni Mitchell
~~
"The quality of Sue William Silverman's seeing, the angle of her gaze, and the way she builds a frame for readers to view our own tragic, complicated, beautiful lives makes this collection distinctive. Throughout, I am struck by the way Silverman folds time, navigating the rich span of her years on this planet to locate vital patterns and connections. These essays contain such wisdom about the making of a life. . . . Silverman is a national treasure."--Jill Christman, author of If This Were Fiction