The Object Parade

January 13, 2014
In this pleasant if meandering essay collection, actress and writer Lenney (Bigger Than Life) meditates on dozens of memorable physical objects from her life: her grandfather’s Steinway; a pair of her mother’s earrings; the plastic scoops found in old tins of Chock Full o’ Nuts coffee, and others. Much of the collection revolves around family, specifically the author’s husband, children, and mother; the results are charming but repetitive in their patterns of ambiguous melancholy and joy, as one essay fades into the next. However, the book offers a few heart-stopping standouts, particularly “Stick Kite” and “Nests,” which go to a deeper level of emotion and truth. The former, a two-page monologue to Lenney’s daughter as a child flying a kite, is intimate and vivid, while the latter is a spare, beautiful weaving of her sister’s troubled life and the families of doves that sing outside of the author’s bedroom. The book is most successful when the author focuses more on the people in front of her and lays scenes and emotions bare, as opposed to indulging in the grand-mystery-of-life thoughts that permeate some of the weaker essays. Still, this creatively structured book remains an enjoyable read, and the standout essays merit the price of admission.

March 15, 2014
A pensive perusal of the objects that can define and shape a life. The materials that actress and essayist Lenney (Bigger than Life: A Murder, a Memoir, 2007) draws her inspiration from may be commonplace items, but to her, they "tell the stories of our lives." The author reflects on integral items present throughout her history. Beloved is the Tiffany watch generously given as a wedding gift by her Grandpa Charlie, whose Steinway baby grand piano proved to be laborious to disassemble and relocate to her home in Los Angeles. Though uneven, the collection's pieces build on each other, layer upon vivid layer of Lenney's personal history, her heart firmly invested in hearth and home. The author's family forms the centerpiece in a good portion of these ruminative writings, including a spontaneous, nostalgic revisit to her childhood home, an epistolary essay to her father, or a standout piece, "Nests," which beautifully intertwines her sister's dispirited emotional state with a family of watchful doves. Elsewhere, Lenney blissfully contemplates a spoon pilfered from summers spent at a resort, a scarf knitted during Hamlet rehearsals, a black dress that has escorted her through a temperamental acting career. One of the book's most moving entries also happens to be its shortest: a strikingly gorgeous, two-page homage to Lenney's daughter, portrayed as a young girl bouncing in the sun trailing a kite flush with bright streamers. Though she does tend to wander off on expository jaunts in less-engaging essays, the author remains a lyrical observer of everyday objects. Indeed, her truest passion lies in the heartfelt sentimentality for those things that "tether us to place and people and the past, to feeling and thought, to each other and ourselves, to some admittedly elusive understanding of the passage of time." An eclectic treasury of the cherished and the evocative.

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April 1, 2014
In her collection of interconnected essays, Lenney (Bigger Than Life, 2007) explores ways in which the physical objects in her life tether her to memories as well as relationships past and present. Each seemingly innocuous object featured herea watch, metronome, spoon, or table, for examplebrings with it a story or vignette, and Lenney uses this as a springboard to examine moments in her life while looking, sometimes hesitantly, toward the future. In Ferris Wheel, a spontaneous trip to a park with her two young children evolves into a rumination over her daughter's imminent transition to adulthood. In the standout Nests, the perturbing chorus of a mourning dove connects Lenney to haunting memories of her sister's struggle with mental health. In Little Black Dress and its counterpart, Little Black Dress, Two, the eponymous trusted garment appears to lose its luster despite its cherished memories, forcing Lenney to confront her anxieties. Lenney draws upon her experiences as a working actor and mother, offering a reflective and candid look at the connection between sentiment and necessity.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2014, American Library Association.)