Items related to My Own Alphabet
Synopsis
The letters of the alphabet are the points of departure for Hawkins's explorations of adulthood.
"synopsis" may belong to another edition of this title.
From Publishers Weekly
Arranging the subjects of her pieces alphabetically ( A is for "Absolutes"; L is about her cousin Linda Joy), Hawkins ( One Small Saga ) jogs memory and induces fantasy. "Dr. Gore was an abortionist," begins the first entry; by the second paragraph, it is 1948 and readers are sympathizing with the narrator/patient. In "A Thousand Pieces," a group of women assemble a puzzle while gossiping about friends. This delightful story could be an emblem for the entire collection: bits and pieces of varying length are juxtaposed and, once fit together, the life of a woman emerges; often she is given the same background as the author, sometimes she is camouflaged. She is divorced after a long marriage, has young children (in several stories) and continually reflects on the past. Hawkins moves with apparent ease from tale to tale, suffusing each with irony, anger or love as the occasion demands. Interspersed epigrams by a range of writers confirm the universality of Hawkins's concerns.
Copyright 1989 Reed Business Information, Inc.
"About this title" may belong to another edition of this title.
- PublisherCoffee House Press
- Publication date1989
- ISBN 10 0918273528
- ISBN 13 9780918273529
- BindingPaperback
- LanguageEnglish
- Edition number1
- Number of pages144
- Rating
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My Own Alphabet: Stories, Essays and Memoirs
Published by
Coffee House Press, 1989
ISBN 10: 0918273528
ISBN 13: 9780918273529
Used
Soft cover
First Edition
Seller: Remarks Used Books, Pittsfield, MA, U.S.A.
Seller rating 5 out of 5 stars
Soft cover. Condition: Fine. 1st Edition. Bright, clean & tight copy, unread, in Fine condition. "In this sometimes witty, sometimes heartbreaking collection of stories and essays, Hawkins uses each letter of the alphabet to mark her personal vision of what makes the world go round: A is for Attitude and Aging; D is for Death & Dying and Domestic Nirvana; H is for Heartbreak." [publisher copy] "If more writers were writing like Bobbie Louise Hawkins--economically and truly about the only human things that interest us in prose: the past, the family, love, hate, duty, forgiveness--then maybe a few more thousand Americans would be reading narrative fiction and nourishing themselves on the oldest of all safe and enduring pleasures: news and fun and consolation."--Reynolds Price. Pristine paperback w/sharp corners & crisp edges, a square & tight binding w/no creases in spine. Seller Inventory # RUB3055
Quantity: 1 available
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My Own Alphabet
Seller: The Book Spot, Sioux Falls, SD, U.S.A.
Seller rating 5 out of 5 stars
Paperback. Seller Inventory # Abebooks214703
Quantity: 1 available