Review: Bird by Bird, by Anne Lamott
Apr. 22nd, 2014 12:21 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
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write_awayBird by Bird was the first book recommended in a thread I started here about writing advice books. I've made it something of a project to read the recommendations in my free time. I started with Bird and finished it a couple of weeks ago. Now I'm about 2/3 through Jeff Gerke's Plot versus Character, which I have considerably more mixed feelings about. But all in good time, first the Bird by Bird review:
Bird is a more a "motivation" kind of book than a "practical help" book, a difference helpfully put forward by userinkdust who recommended it. A shorter sample of "motivational" writing might be Anna Quindlen's 1999 commencement speech at Mount Holyoke College where she exhorted graduates to find their own voice. There is also Octavia Butler's essay Furor Scribendi (with its crucial last word, "Persist.") in her short story collection Bloodchild and Other Stories, and many more.
So what is the value of reading a book about writing inspiration when essays and clever, pithy quotes are available on the same subjects? The foremost, I think, is the value of any book if done right--you get a whole, organized treatment on the subject of writing, rather than one aspect of it like authenticity, persistence, or editing.
Lamott also goes into aspects of the writing life I haven't seen any other writer talk about: She cautions that publication, which seems a shining land of promise for the unpublished, won't turn one's life around, and that runaway success is a rare thing. She discusses how writing might not make you immediately financially secure and there's no guarantee of material success, but that success for her isn't defined by those metrics. Perhaps most refreshingly, she speaks frankly about the almost taboo subject of jealousy and other less-than-pretty emotions.
Perhaps the greatest joy of a book like this, though, is the sense of getting to know the author, what she's passionate about, what makes her tick. That's the thing about these motivation-type writings, they are revelatory about the person behind the text in a way that technique-oriented writing seldom is. And Lamott's is a highly enjoyable voice with its combination of dry wit, keen observation, and overflowing passion.
It should be said her voice isn't for everyone: One of the commenters in the original thread said they were turned off by Lamott's unkindness, and I can see where they're coming from at the same time that I cringe at myself. I cringe because I also have that sense of humor that comes across as unkind--admitting flat-out my worst impulse and laughing at the ridiculousness of it, which can seem like an endorsement but isn't, or at least I don't understand it that way. So Lamott's style worked fine for me, but it might feel abrasive to some.
For all this book falls on the "motivation" pile of books on writing, it nevertheless has great advice drawn from the author's own experience as a writer and writing teacher. Things like the two-inch picture frame, calling around for research, putting together writing groups, and using index cards to jot down everything might be classified as "soft" technique. Of course we have smartphones for notetaking now, something the book--published in the 90s--doesn't reflect.
Speaking of the Stone Age, there is one thing that was a small irritation to me. I noticed that black people in Lamott's anecdotes are always labeled as such, e.g. "the black man" and "three African Americans." Also, they never get names. It wasn't exactly offensive, but somewhat embarrassing. I can promise Ms. Lamott and anyone reading, on my word of honor, that people of color don't disappear in puffs of smoke if you call us by name without reference to our race. Really! Well, except for that one group, but I'm not telling you which because they have it coming.
So, bumps and all, Bird by Bird is a worthwhile read for anyone interested in a perspective on the ups and downs of a writer's life, especially one that is funny and compassionate at the same time. I liked it a lot.
Bird is a more a "motivation" kind of book than a "practical help" book, a difference helpfully put forward by user
inkdust who recommended it. A shorter sample of "motivational" writing might be Anna Quindlen's 1999 commencement speech at Mount Holyoke College where she exhorted graduates to find their own voice. There is also Octavia Butler's essay Furor Scribendi (with its crucial last word, "Persist.") in her short story collection Bloodchild and Other Stories, and many more.So what is the value of reading a book about writing inspiration when essays and clever, pithy quotes are available on the same subjects? The foremost, I think, is the value of any book if done right--you get a whole, organized treatment on the subject of writing, rather than one aspect of it like authenticity, persistence, or editing.
Lamott also goes into aspects of the writing life I haven't seen any other writer talk about: She cautions that publication, which seems a shining land of promise for the unpublished, won't turn one's life around, and that runaway success is a rare thing. She discusses how writing might not make you immediately financially secure and there's no guarantee of material success, but that success for her isn't defined by those metrics. Perhaps most refreshingly, she speaks frankly about the almost taboo subject of jealousy and other less-than-pretty emotions.
Perhaps the greatest joy of a book like this, though, is the sense of getting to know the author, what she's passionate about, what makes her tick. That's the thing about these motivation-type writings, they are revelatory about the person behind the text in a way that technique-oriented writing seldom is. And Lamott's is a highly enjoyable voice with its combination of dry wit, keen observation, and overflowing passion.
It should be said her voice isn't for everyone: One of the commenters in the original thread said they were turned off by Lamott's unkindness, and I can see where they're coming from at the same time that I cringe at myself. I cringe because I also have that sense of humor that comes across as unkind--admitting flat-out my worst impulse and laughing at the ridiculousness of it, which can seem like an endorsement but isn't, or at least I don't understand it that way. So Lamott's style worked fine for me, but it might feel abrasive to some.
For all this book falls on the "motivation" pile of books on writing, it nevertheless has great advice drawn from the author's own experience as a writer and writing teacher. Things like the two-inch picture frame, calling around for research, putting together writing groups, and using index cards to jot down everything might be classified as "soft" technique. Of course we have smartphones for notetaking now, something the book--published in the 90s--doesn't reflect.
Speaking of the Stone Age, there is one thing that was a small irritation to me. I noticed that black people in Lamott's anecdotes are always labeled as such, e.g. "the black man" and "three African Americans." Also, they never get names. It wasn't exactly offensive, but somewhat embarrassing. I can promise Ms. Lamott and anyone reading, on my word of honor, that people of color don't disappear in puffs of smoke if you call us by name without reference to our race. Really! Well, except for that one group, but I'm not telling you which because they have it coming.
So, bumps and all, Bird by Bird is a worthwhile read for anyone interested in a perspective on the ups and downs of a writer's life, especially one that is funny and compassionate at the same time. I liked it a lot.
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