Heating & Cooling

August 1, 2017
A poet and fiction writer delivers 52 "micro-memoirs"--some just one sentence, some a couple of pages--that offer insight into her life, the lives of loved ones, and the overall human condition.Fennelly (Unmentionables: Poems, 2008, etc.), the former poet laureate of Mississippi, mostly avoids identifying names in the essays--which were previously published in a variety of venues, including Guernica, the Kenyon Review, and the Oxford American--but sometimes it is obvious whom she is referencing or addressing. Five of the essays scattered throughout the slim book carry the title "Married Love" and refer to her husband, novelist Tom Franklin. Other essays refer directly to the author's children or her parents. Irreverence abounds, as evidenced in the acknowledgements, in which Fennelly thanks her mother by name before adding that she "affirms me daily in many loving ways, as she has done from the start, despite noting that 'This book has a lot of penises, Beth Ann.' " Some of the essays indeed refer to sex but mostly with humor or melancholy. Self-deprecation appears throughout, as well; Fennelly never takes herself too seriously. Other subjects include the author's doubting of Catholicism, the residents of Oxford, Mississippi, where she lives, and her years as a student. The title essay, previously published in the Southern Review, begins with a service call from an HVAC repairman and then touches on a variety of other topics, including poetry, babies, cookies, and Who Wants to Be a Millionaire. Although the concept and structure of the book are experimental, on the whole, the writing is more straightforward, lucidly composed, and often highly evocative. In "A Reckoning of Kisses," she writes, "he placed his beer on the pool's lip, then pulled me into his. I'll wager that, on the scale of kiss-taste, a freshly-smoked Marlboro followed by a swig of Bud in a forbidden pool in the chlorinated dark still ranks pretty high." A sleek, delightful collection.

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October 15, 2017

The subtitle of Mississippi poet laureate Fennelly's memoir provides readers all the explanation they need. Each of the "52 micro-memoirs" range in length from a sentence to several pages, as the author covers motherhood, marriage, childhood, family, writing, her parents, the death of a beloved sister, the quirks of neighbors and friends, aging, her husband, and a multitude of other observations. It may seem incongruous, but Fennelly packs a lot into each short piece, with some lighter in subject matter and others with a sudden punch-in-the-gut feel, weighted with existential exploration. VERDICT Potent despite their brevity, many of Fennelly's micromemoirs bring hefty topics to the surface; the lack of excessive text allows readers to fill in the gaps. Readers who enjoyed Anne Lamott's memoirs (Bird by Bird; Hallelujah Anyway) will delight in these pieces. [See "Summering Down," ow.ly/rGF330fkneS.]--Rachael Dreyer, Eberly Family Special Collections Lib., Pennsylvania State Univ.

Copyright 2017 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

September 1, 2017
Ranging from a single sentence to several pages in length, these micro-memoirs from poet and novelist Fennelly (Unmentionables, 2008; The Tilted World, 2013) delve into her childhood, motherhood, and her life as a writer and as a wife. Fennelly recounts episodes, events, or earned truths that, given her poignant reflection and graceful, often-funny telling, are sure to stop readers in their tracks. In the title piece, a broken air conditioner is cause for some uncomfortable but not unsexy mental inventorying. Kisses, in general, get their own memoir in the form of a list: What's a kiss but two eels grappling in a cave of spit? Best not to overthink it. Stubbornly fixed memories get attention, as do those that have, troublingly, disappeared. Each well-titled ( What I Think about When Someone Uses Pussy' as a Synonym for Weak or I Come from a Long Line of Modest Achievers ), sentimental, yet saccharine-free, reduced-to-its-essence memoir portrays an author of bold perception, powerful femininity, and candid vulnerability. This deceptively slim, convention-defying collection delivers unerringly generous rewards.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2017, American Library Association.)