The Abundance: Narrative Essays Old and New

Summary:

In recognition of this Pulitzer prize–winning author’s lauded career as a master essayist, a landmark collection, including her most beloved pieces and some rarely seen work the abundance includes the best of Annie Dillard’s essays, delivered in her fierce and muscular prose, filled with absorbing detail and metaphysical fact. Intense, vivid, and fearless, her work endows the true and seemingly ordinary aspects of life—a commuter chases snowball-throwing children through backyards, a bookish teenager memorizes the poetry of Rimbaud—with beauty and irony. These essays invite readers into sweeping landscapes, to join Dillard in exploring the complexities of time and death, often with wry humor. On one page, an eagle falls from the sky with a weasel attached to its throat; on another, a man walks into a bar. (Summary and cover courtesy of goodreads.com)

Please note: I received a free copy of this book courtesy of the publisher and I voluntarily chose to write a review

Review:

I tried on this one, I really did, but after 100 pages I was done.  Trying to read this book felt like reading the journal of the high school girl who thought she was artsy.  Each essay dragged on and seemed to be fascinated both with its own language and over describing each aspect of the scene.  The dead flies in the bathroom confirmed to me that I do not think I’d get along with Dillard in real life.  I just don’t think I can see the same level of philosophy in her observations.

I don’t know what Dillard’s other writing is like and I’d probably give it a shot, but these essays just were not for me.

Rating: 1 stars!

Who should read it? Only people who know they’re fans of Anne Dillard.