This Is Where We Came In

December 15, 2013
A literary New Yorker shares her memories. Novelist, poet and essayist Schwartz (Two-Part Inventions: A Novel, 2012, etc.) has gathered mostly previously published pieces on subjects ranging from childhood memories to taking an African drumming class to listening to Anthony Powell's books on tape. Many are essays of self-discovery, efforts to dig "for the shards of...early delusions" and the sources of her easily incited anger, competitiveness and impatience. Growing up in Brooklyn in the 1940s and '50s, Schwartz and her friends spent long Saturday afternoons at the movies, usually arriving in the middle of a feature. They watched, not certain about the plot until they saw it through at the next showing, leaving whenever they could say for certainty, "I think this is where we came in." The reader undergoes a similar process in fitting together disparate "glimpses" into a full portrait. One essay focuses on the author's cherished baby grand piano, an extravagant purchase by her parents, that she has moved wherever she has lived; another, on the quality of her parents' marriage and its hidden intimacies. She reflects on the nature of friendship, on her youthful belief in humankind's essential goodness, and on her knee-jerk response to blame someone or something for malevolence. "Blaming was a comfort," she writes, "and comfort was high on our scale of values....If villains could be found to blame for everything, then evil could be localized and kept in check, like an epidemic." The idea of evil permeates her recollection of a shattering visit to Robben Island, where Nelson Mandela and other political prisoners were held during apartheid. Two of the strongest essays focus on recent events: heart surgery to replace a valve, which generated months of severe depression; and her delicate parsing of love for a grandchild. Although some pieces are slight, on the whole, reading Schwartz is like a pleasurable visit with a thoughtful and articulate friend.

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March 1, 2014
A prolific essayist and novelist, Schwartz (Two-Part Inventions, 2012) here offers probing and perceptive glimpses into her life, past and present. She begins with her confrontations with the medical bureaucracy during her heart valve surgery, as well as the surprising camaraderie she experienced with other patients on the cardiac floor. She explores themes both close to her beloved New York City and afar, from the allure of New York street hot dogs, which make her feel jaunty and carefree, young and blithe-spirited; to the horror she felt visiting Robben Island, South Africa, where political prisoners, including Nelson Mandela, were held during the years of apartheid. Schwartz muses on topics as varied as the bullying she experienced in the third grade and the wheelchair yoga class she took with a friend dying of cancer. While many of these essays treat familiar themesthe difficulty in maintaining long-distance friendships, the joy of being a grandmotherSchwartz imbues them with her signature curiosity, introspection, and insight, making readers feel as if they and the author are sharing their very personal memories.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2014, American Library Association.)