Print Length: 213 pages
Page Numbers Source ISBN: 1496214099
Publisher: University of Nebraska Press (March 1, 2020)
Publication Date: March 1, 2020
SYNOPSIS:
Many are haunted and obsessed by their own eventual deaths, but perhaps no one as much as Sue William Silverman. This thematically linked collection of essays charts Silverman’s attempt to confront her fears of that ultimate unknown. Her dread was fomented in part by a sexual assault, hidden for years, that led to an awareness that death and sex are in some ways inextricable, an everyday reality many women know too well.
Through gallows humor, vivid realism, and fantastical speculation, How to Survive Death and Other Inconveniences explores this fear of death and the author’s desire to survive it. From cruising New Jersey’s industry-blighted landscape in a gold Plymouth to visiting the emergency room for maladies both real and imagined to suffering the stifling strictness of an intractable piano teacher, Silverman guards her memories for the same reason she resurrects archaic words—to use as talismans to ward off the inevitable. Ultimately, Silverman knows there is no way to survive death physically. Still, through language, commemoration, and metaphor, she searches for a sliver of transcendent immortality.
TOUGHTS/REVIEW:
Haruki Murakami said that “Death is not the opposite of
life, but a part of it”. Sue William Silverman writes a collection of essays
and musings of what might suggest in the tile to be a morbid book, “How to
Survive Death and Other Inconveniences”, but in fact is a clever book about a
woman who very much wants to live and survive – so much so that she advices to
survive death, one must believe in magic, language and memory. Silverman
described death as the Ultima Thule – the great unknown that as much as death
may terrify her, she vows to taunt it with “Death: Catch me if you can”. This latest
collection of essays examines her life from a young age of 4 through her teenage
years as she taunts death and takes calculated risks. Terrified of death she
convinces herself that a headache could be an aneurysm, a stroke, a brain tumor
– searching the web for answers and consults Google,MD. As a nurse, I found
this piece the most fascinating and my favorite essay as she goes on to explain
about her obsession and worry about her symptoms, and thank goodness because
many times it has saved her from death. Silverman writes with so much wit and a
way with words. I find her ramblings amusing and best enjoyed savored slowly
over a glass of wine. I enjoyed this one.
AUTHOR SPOTLIGHT:
Sue William Silverman's forthcoming memoir is HOW TO SURVIVE DEATH and OTHER INCONVENIENCES (University of Nebraska Press, March 2020). Her previous memoirs are THE PAT BOONE FAN CLUB: MY LIFE AS A WHITE ANGLO-SAXON JEW (University of Nebraska Press); LOVE SICK: ONE WOMAN'S JOURNEY THROUGH SEXUAL ADDICTION (W.W. Norton), which aired as a Lifetime Television original movie, and BECAUSE I REMEMBER TERROR, FATHER, I REMEMBER YOU (University of Georgia Press), which won the AWP award in creative nonfiction. Her craft book is FEARLESS CONFESSIONS: A WRITER'S GUIDE TO MEMOIR, and her poetry collections are IF THE GIRL NEVER LEARNS (Brick Mantel Books) and HIEROGLYPHICS IN NEON (Orchises Press). As a professional speaker she has appeared on "The View," "Anderson Cooper-360," "CNN-Headline News," the Montel Williams Show, and the Discovery Channel. She teaches in the MFA in Writing program at the Vermont College of Fine Arts.
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