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John Williams, The New York Times writes, Reviewing Emilie Pine’s “Notes to Self” in The Irish Times, Martina Evans wrote:
“It’s the kind of book you want to give to everyone, especially young
women and men, so that we can learn together to take ourselves and each
other more seriously.”
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| “I wrote it quickly, over the course of a year. Or you could say it took me 40 years to write it,” said Emilie Pine of her new book “Notes to Self.” Photo: Patricia Wall/The New York Times |
A lot of
readers must have taken her advice, because the essay collection became
the No. 1 best-selling book in Ireland, where Pine is an associate
professor of modern drama at University College Dublin. Pine had written
academic books before, but the subject matter and the perspective in
“Notes to Self” were a radical departure. She writes in these six essays
about the effect of her father’s alcoholism on her family, her
unsuccessful attempts to have a baby, menstruation, body image and
sexual violence. Her tone is both frank and measured, confessional and
confidently self-contained. Below, Pine talks about the “volcanic
pressure” she felt to write these things, her surprising connections
with readers and more...
Persuade someone to read “Notes to Self” in 50 words or less.
I was done with all the silences around women’s lives and bodies, so I wrote the book that I wanted — that I needed — to read. It was my way of processing, and possessing, the hardest parts of my life; it was my way of making something joyful out of pain.
I was done with all the silences around women’s lives and bodies, so I wrote the book that I wanted — that I needed — to read. It was my way of processing, and possessing, the hardest parts of my life; it was my way of making something joyful out of pain.
Source: The New York Times
