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Make It Scream, Make It Burn
A new collection of essays about obsession and longing from Leslie Jamison, the New York Times bestselling author of The Recovering and The Empathy Exams. A combination of memoir, criticism, and journalism, Make It Scream, Make It Burn is Leslie Jamison's profound exploration of the oceanic depths of longing and the reverberations of obsession.
Among Jamison's subjects are 52 Blue, deemed "the loneliest whale in the world"; the eerie specter of reincarnated children; devotees of an online existence called Second Life, to the exclusion of their real lives; Civil War photography; and an entire museum dedicated to relationship breakups. Through these essays and through forays into her own obsessions and longings, Jamison delves into the nature of storytelling itself. We wonder alongside her whether it is ever really possible to hear someone else's story without somehow making it our own, without seeing it through the cracked windows of our private selves.
Throughout these essays, Jamison, who has frequently been compared to Joan Didion and Susan Sontag, shines the spotlight every bit as uncomfortably on herself as she does on others. Unlike the standard journalistic practice, Jamison acknowledges her emotional investment in her subjects, always with utmost clarity and unwavering empathy. In her view, true art cannot be made any other way. Indeed, this refusal to hide—this emotional frankness—is precisely the quality that makes Jamison's questing and irrepressible voice impossible not to fall in love with.
Among Jamison's subjects are 52 Blue, deemed "the loneliest whale in the world"; the eerie specter of reincarnated children; devotees of an online existence called Second Life, to the exclusion of their real lives; Civil War photography; and an entire museum dedicated to relationship breakups. Through these essays and through forays into her own obsessions and longings, Jamison delves into the nature of storytelling itself. We wonder alongside her whether it is ever really possible to hear someone else's story without somehow making it our own, without seeing it through the cracked windows of our private selves.
Throughout these essays, Jamison, who has frequently been compared to Joan Didion and Susan Sontag, shines the spotlight every bit as uncomfortably on herself as she does on others. Unlike the standard journalistic practice, Jamison acknowledges her emotional investment in her subjects, always with utmost clarity and unwavering empathy. In her view, true art cannot be made any other way. Indeed, this refusal to hide—this emotional frankness—is precisely the quality that makes Jamison's questing and irrepressible voice impossible not to fall in love with.
272 pages, Hardcover
First published September 24, 2019
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October 9, 2019
I loved Leslie Jamison’s collection
The Empathy Exams
in 2014 but have struggled to connect with her work since then, including this book. For the first two sections of this essay collection, I felt like, in each essay, Jamison took a very long, drawn-out time to make one pretty solid point. For example, in her essay “52 Blue,” she draws interesting insights about loneliness and the shared experience of loneliness, but overall the essay felt rather removed and observational. In “Sim Life,” she writes about the nuances of people who use the online game Second Life, and while her observations feel eloquent and honest, they lack an oomph factor. While I appreciate Jamison’s capacity to dance among differing perspectives and honor the shades of grey inherent in complex topics, in these first two sections, I wanted her to take more of a stand, to show more of the investment that I’m sure she feels toward these topics. For example, in “Maximum Exposure,” I waited and waited to feel something in response to her writing, and I finally did when she delivered a dynamite last sentence to the essay, a sentence that made me stop in my tracks and journal about my emotions because it captivated me so much. I wanted more of these piercing insights throughout the collection (the final paragraph of the essay is as follows):
”When I look at Annie’s early proof sheets, from her first visits to Baja, I see some version of what she saw then: a mother with her infant, a father with his encyclopedias and his tequila bottles and his towering stacks of bricks. But I also see the long shadows cast by everything that hasn’t happened yet: years of day jobs and rejected grant applications and ruptured love affairs; fights with mothers and unexpected pregnancies; addictions and fires and bus rides to new lives. I see the lurking horizons of a project that would keep leaving Annie humbled, more confused than when she’d begun. After nine years: I understand nothing. In those early negatives, I see cornflakes and cigarettes and stubborn wind and sudden laughter. I see everything the photos knew alongside everything they didn’t know yet, and this unknowing is one more definition of love: committing to a story you can’t fully imagine when it begins.”
Jamison did get more personal in the last third of the collection, but I could not get over how heteronormative and white these essays felt. Jamison talks about ended romantic relationships, becoming a stepmother, and giving birth to her daughter. Her writing flows well and feels so pleasant to read. She also makes compelling arguments about these topics, such as her point that we should neither glorify nor vilify stepmothers as we often do in the media.
But I wanted a much more incisive analysis, acknowledgement, or commentary about the heteronormative, almost patriarchal prioritization of the nuclear family and of monogamous romantic relationships in these essays. For example, in “Museum of Broken Hearts,” I wished for a little meta-commentary about the prioritization of romantic relationships in society and how that influences people. In her last essay, in which she contrasts her experience with an eating disorder and how she fed herself to care for her daughter, I wanted more reflection about the healing process other than just the notion that one should feed oneself for the purpose of taking care of someone else, even if that feels true in Jamison’s experience. As someone who had an eating disorder and now works in mental health, this essay left me with a sour taste in my mouth, because while I so respect Jamison’s vulnerability and how she writes about her life, the lack of discussion of healing centered on other things aside from having children felt like a diminishing of the issue.
Overall, in terms of 2019 essay collection releases, I would more recommend Jia Tolentino’s Trick Mirror , as Tolentino’s voice feels so distinct and she tackles topics like marriage while placing them in a sociopolitical context. I would also recommend No One Tells You This by Glynnis MacNicol and Hard to Love by Briallen Hopper, books written by white women that explicitly address heteronormativity as well as the authors’ white privilege. I recognize this review may come across as controversial given how so many others have praised this collection by Jamison, however, I want to stay true to my feelings and I hope I have done so with some semblance of grace.
”When I look at Annie’s early proof sheets, from her first visits to Baja, I see some version of what she saw then: a mother with her infant, a father with his encyclopedias and his tequila bottles and his towering stacks of bricks. But I also see the long shadows cast by everything that hasn’t happened yet: years of day jobs and rejected grant applications and ruptured love affairs; fights with mothers and unexpected pregnancies; addictions and fires and bus rides to new lives. I see the lurking horizons of a project that would keep leaving Annie humbled, more confused than when she’d begun. After nine years: I understand nothing. In those early negatives, I see cornflakes and cigarettes and stubborn wind and sudden laughter. I see everything the photos knew alongside everything they didn’t know yet, and this unknowing is one more definition of love: committing to a story you can’t fully imagine when it begins.”
Jamison did get more personal in the last third of the collection, but I could not get over how heteronormative and white these essays felt. Jamison talks about ended romantic relationships, becoming a stepmother, and giving birth to her daughter. Her writing flows well and feels so pleasant to read. She also makes compelling arguments about these topics, such as her point that we should neither glorify nor vilify stepmothers as we often do in the media.
But I wanted a much more incisive analysis, acknowledgement, or commentary about the heteronormative, almost patriarchal prioritization of the nuclear family and of monogamous romantic relationships in these essays. For example, in “Museum of Broken Hearts,” I wished for a little meta-commentary about the prioritization of romantic relationships in society and how that influences people. In her last essay, in which she contrasts her experience with an eating disorder and how she fed herself to care for her daughter, I wanted more reflection about the healing process other than just the notion that one should feed oneself for the purpose of taking care of someone else, even if that feels true in Jamison’s experience. As someone who had an eating disorder and now works in mental health, this essay left me with a sour taste in my mouth, because while I so respect Jamison’s vulnerability and how she writes about her life, the lack of discussion of healing centered on other things aside from having children felt like a diminishing of the issue.
Overall, in terms of 2019 essay collection releases, I would more recommend Jia Tolentino’s Trick Mirror , as Tolentino’s voice feels so distinct and she tackles topics like marriage while placing them in a sociopolitical context. I would also recommend No One Tells You This by Glynnis MacNicol and Hard to Love by Briallen Hopper, books written by white women that explicitly address heteronormativity as well as the authors’ white privilege. I recognize this review may come across as controversial given how so many others have praised this collection by Jamison, however, I want to stay true to my feelings and I hope I have done so with some semblance of grace.
September 22, 2019
I feel like Jamison has matured in how she views relationships and other people. These essays seem more interested in other people's motivations and quirks than her own, and she comes across as curious and empathetic. In 2007, I wrote an article for an obscure music librarian journal about Second Life and she interviewed one of the same avatars for the essay on Second Life in this collection. "52 Blue" is a favorite in this collection, and I really liked "The Real Smoke" which is about Vegas culture and our unrealistic expectations of relationships.
This essay collection comes out next Tuesday (September 24, 2019,) and I have a copy from the publisher through NetGalley.
This essay collection comes out next Tuesday (September 24, 2019,) and I have a copy from the publisher through NetGalley.
January 25, 2021
Leslie Jamison can be a spectacular essayist. She has an intense curiosity and investigates the world around her without an agenda. Her best essays, in the first and third section of the collection, are those in which she includes herself. She writes about her life with a refreshing candor, devoid of false humility and veils. I would have rated the collection higher but I found the four essays in the center of the book studious and bland.
March 20, 2020
[4.5 stars]
Unsurprisingly, I loved this. Jamison is quickly becoming one of my favorite non-fiction writers, if not my #1. She has this sensibility that others lack, of being able to be within and without her writing simultaneously. The ability to insert herself into the narrative without making it about herself is something I admire as a reader because it allows me to find a deeper, more human connection point to the narrative but still see the big picture she is painting. And of course she does write some essays strictly from her own experience as more of a story-teller than an essayist, but still maintains the skilled writing, keen eye and tenderness that she exhibits in all of her work.
Unsurprisingly, I loved this. Jamison is quickly becoming one of my favorite non-fiction writers, if not my #1. She has this sensibility that others lack, of being able to be within and without her writing simultaneously. The ability to insert herself into the narrative without making it about herself is something I admire as a reader because it allows me to find a deeper, more human connection point to the narrative but still see the big picture she is painting. And of course she does write some essays strictly from her own experience as more of a story-teller than an essayist, but still maintains the skilled writing, keen eye and tenderness that she exhibits in all of her work.
August 29, 2019
(4 big stars, rounded up to 5 because one essay literally made me scream... in this AH, LESLIE YOUR WRITING IS KILLING ME sort of way, which was followed by me reading like three paragraphs over again out loud to soak in her genius.)
This is a solid collection of essays, to say the least. Some of them I definitely want to revisit again. One or two I was like meh, but one or two meh when there are at least five or six that cut me deeply, still equals a stellar collection. Overall, I LOVED it.
This is a solid collection of essays, to say the least. Some of them I definitely want to revisit again. One or two I was like meh, but one or two meh when there are at least five or six that cut me deeply, still equals a stellar collection. Overall, I LOVED it.
May 8, 2019
Leslie Jamison is one of the best nonfiction writers of our time. Reading her on the page is exactly what I want always to be doing.
October 4, 2019
Jamison has a very specific essay formula, but it's a very good one, and no-one else writes like this.
June 3, 2019
3.5
Make it Scream, Make it Burn is a collection of loosely-related essays, many about the author's own life, and others about subjects that caught her fancy. For the most part, these are ordinary people and routine situations; Jamison digs for meaning in things that are often overlooked, and I appreciate that. Her words are lovely, startlingly human, layered with research and years of experience in her craft.
I'm not going to pretend like Leslie Jamison isn't a great writer. She is. But sometimes Make it Scream just tries too hard to find meaning where maybe a cigar is just a cigar and maybe a photograph is just a photograph. The essays about Jamison's life are rich and moving, but the art critiques fall oddly flat.
There's also something exploitative about the way she uses unsuspecting people as material. Jamison admits feeling weird about this, but she still published it, so it must not have bothered her THAT much. I was particularly disturbed by how easy it was to identify the full name and identity of the woman from the layover story, who is not depicted in a particularly flattering light. Per Anne Lamott, you own everything that happens to you—but just because you can do something doesn't mean you should.
(I received this book for free through a Goodreads giveaway.)
Make it Scream, Make it Burn is a collection of loosely-related essays, many about the author's own life, and others about subjects that caught her fancy. For the most part, these are ordinary people and routine situations; Jamison digs for meaning in things that are often overlooked, and I appreciate that. Her words are lovely, startlingly human, layered with research and years of experience in her craft.
I'm not going to pretend like Leslie Jamison isn't a great writer. She is. But sometimes Make it Scream just tries too hard to find meaning where maybe a cigar is just a cigar and maybe a photograph is just a photograph. The essays about Jamison's life are rich and moving, but the art critiques fall oddly flat.
There's also something exploitative about the way she uses unsuspecting people as material. Jamison admits feeling weird about this, but she still published it, so it must not have bothered her THAT much. I was particularly disturbed by how easy it was to identify the full name and identity of the woman from the layover story, who is not depicted in a particularly flattering light. Per Anne Lamott, you own everything that happens to you—but just because you can do something doesn't mean you should.
(I received this book for free through a Goodreads giveaway.)
May 13, 2019
metaphor always connects two disparate points; it suggests that no pathos exists in isolation, no plight exists apart from the plights of others. loneliness seeks out metaphors not just for definition but for the companionship of resonance, the promise of kinship in comparison.leslie jamison's writing is incisive and insightful, and, at its best, is marked by a sort of epiphanic explication—as if the construction of her resplendent prose is conjoined with the realizations they are simultaneously producing. it's a striking feature, like she is recalling the details of a particular scene in order to convince both herself as the teller and us as the told; the tale unlocking only in its telling.
the fourteen essays in jamison's new collection, make it scream, make it burn, are divided into three sections: longing, looking, and dwelling. as found within her exceptional first collection, the empathy exams, jamison is drawn inextricably to the misunderstood, the lonely, the overlooked, the fragile, the forgotten, the quirky, and, above all, the personal. seemingly possessed by an insatiable curiosity (and perhaps a guiding desire to understand, to feel loved, to be seen, to be strong, to be acknowledged, and to fit in herself), jamison's camaraderie to and immersion in her chosen subjects strives toward objectivity, but is all the richer for its subjectivity (and self-awareness). simply put, she cares: about her craft and about the people in her essays; her skeptical benevolence inevitably yielding to a compassionate critique.
December 28, 2019
I really loved this collection of essays - some autobiographical, some taking a broader lens and some combining the two approaches. Always thoughtful, curious and intelligent, Jamison writes like a dream and manages to be both powerfully emotional and deeply interesting - the first essay about the blue whale and the Las Vegas piece are standouts, but the whole book is just wonderful.
October 16, 2019
Leslie Jamison has become one of my new favorite essay authors. I recently read the essay collection “The Empathy Exams," and “The Recovering,” a book length examination of addiction and recovery. Both books are ones I’ve highly recommended. The essays in “Make It Scream, Make it Burn” are wide-ranging in subject matter - from a blue whale who never found a mate and came to represent loneliness to many people, reincarnation, the historical role of stepmothers, and her personal relationships and pregnancy. Some of the most thought-provoking essays were those that were journalistic and investigative in nature, and examined what the proper role of a journalist is when exploring people’s lives and beliefs. Jamison is ever conscious of what is ethical and right in those situations and never comes off as exploitative, condescending, or voyeuristic. Her immense curiosity, eloquent writing, deep insight, and rigorous intellect make this another winner from Jamison.
Thank you to Little, Brown and Company and NetGalley for providing an advance copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.
Thank you to Little, Brown and Company and NetGalley for providing an advance copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.
October 6, 2019
Can I go ahead and anoint myself president of the Leslie Jamison fan club? She’s undoubtedly one of the best essayists of our time. Curiosity and empathy: the two virtues that run like a thread through all her work. She never tells a story about others (or herself) without these two elements. She has a tattoo on her arm that reads: "I am human, nothing human is alien to me”. That should tell you everything you need to know about Jamison’s work; she brings lucidity to the obscure, she ponders the mocked, the lonely, the deviating; she’s not afraid to converge with those that have diverged, as evident especially in The Empathy Exams (her previous essays) but also here too.
Jamison always examines her own place in the stories she tells: her motivations, her biases, her behaviors. I admire this, because I try to do the same in my own life. I try to be self-aware as best I can, and I find it both admirable and compelling to watch Jamison work out her self-awareness on the page. Her examinations of her internal life, that make up the final third of the book, were particularly affecting to me. Indeed many of the essays made me cry, some because I could relate to her reflections on the divorce of her parents and complicated relationships and also just because I feel a sort of kindred-spirit-ness in her writing, like she had plucked unknowable feelings from me and assigned words that made sense. Her rumination on the yearning for yearning made something within me feel recognized.
Many of the nonfiction essay collections we read today are a time capsule for modern life (think: internet culture, political revolution, millennials, gender, pop culture). I enjoy reading the discourse on our current state of affairs, of course, and Jamison touches on some of these topics; but if other writers are creating time capsules of modernity, Leslie Jamison is creating an opus of life - across all the ages and generations, across humanity: the loneliness, the love, the pain, the desire, the belief, the messiness, the joy, all of it. I hope you read this book and feel some connection to it, because in the end, connection - I think that’s all that matters.
Jamison always examines her own place in the stories she tells: her motivations, her biases, her behaviors. I admire this, because I try to do the same in my own life. I try to be self-aware as best I can, and I find it both admirable and compelling to watch Jamison work out her self-awareness on the page. Her examinations of her internal life, that make up the final third of the book, were particularly affecting to me. Indeed many of the essays made me cry, some because I could relate to her reflections on the divorce of her parents and complicated relationships and also just because I feel a sort of kindred-spirit-ness in her writing, like she had plucked unknowable feelings from me and assigned words that made sense. Her rumination on the yearning for yearning made something within me feel recognized.
Many of the nonfiction essay collections we read today are a time capsule for modern life (think: internet culture, political revolution, millennials, gender, pop culture). I enjoy reading the discourse on our current state of affairs, of course, and Jamison touches on some of these topics; but if other writers are creating time capsules of modernity, Leslie Jamison is creating an opus of life - across all the ages and generations, across humanity: the loneliness, the love, the pain, the desire, the belief, the messiness, the joy, all of it. I hope you read this book and feel some connection to it, because in the end, connection - I think that’s all that matters.
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June 10, 2024The Vegas essay in this rockeddddddd we loooove artifice
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September 11, 2019Holy Moly! James Agee, Reincarnation, the Loneliest Whale in the World, Vegas Casinos, Border Crossings, the Museum of Broken Relationships -- you name it, and Leslie Jamison has wrangled into this incredible new collection of essays. Seriously, what a thrill to see so much new work from such a wonderful writer.
I'll be interviewing Leslie Jamison on Wednesday, September 25, 2019 at 7PM at Politics & Prose. Please join us for a wonderful conversation: https://www.politics-prose.com/event/...
I'll be interviewing Leslie Jamison on Wednesday, September 25, 2019 at 7PM at Politics & Prose. Please join us for a wonderful conversation: https://www.politics-prose.com/event/...
October 14, 2020
I won this book in a goodreads drawing.
A collection of essays about this and that. Many of them are biographical in nature. I had several reactions. I thought this book is a fine example of why we should be taxing Ivy League School endowments. Rom-Com movies are at least as unhealthy for girls as violent movies are bad for boys, and should be a source of controversy. Liberals seem to have an awful lot of hangups about Las Vegas. Lots of essays about the art of photography.
On the whole, people who like this sort of thing will like it.
A collection of essays about this and that. Many of them are biographical in nature. I had several reactions. I thought this book is a fine example of why we should be taxing Ivy League School endowments. Rom-Com movies are at least as unhealthy for girls as violent movies are bad for boys, and should be a source of controversy. Liberals seem to have an awful lot of hangups about Las Vegas. Lots of essays about the art of photography.
On the whole, people who like this sort of thing will like it.
December 14, 2019
A few years ago when Empathy Exams, Leslie Jamison’s debut essay collection, was published I absolutely loved it. Now having read Jamison’s most recent essay I wonder if I have changed or Jamison’s approach but I think it’s rather the former.
But let me get into Make It Scream Make It Burn: First of all, this is not a bad book. Jamison most certainly can tell stories and write. When she dives into the complexities of human relationships, dreams, desires – just the messiness that is human life – there are plenty of gold nuggets to gather throughout the collection.
Though the more essays I read the more I became unsatisfied with Jamison’s approach – always quit(ly/e) emotional, following her protagonists’ motivations, on the one hand (self)reflective but rarely about the aspects I wished for more reflection on. There are beautiful turns-of-phrases and thoughts which made me sit and think – then more often than not I asked myself if the idea seemed deep only on a surface level but the moment you step in to examine it you realize these are pretty shallow waters. While compellingly written a lot of the essays left me with the feeling that they are way less substantial and profound than they want me to believe.
That said I did find interesting moments in many of the essays and I did want to know more about some of the subject matters touched upon for example the whale 52 Blue (and the narratives around him) or the layers of Second Life. The last part of the collection consists of more autobiographical essays which I found least interesting – until I came to read “Daughter of a Ghost”, the essay in which Jamison writes about the relationship with her stepdaughter and the (fairytale but also societal) trope of the “horrific stepmother”: This is a beautiful, touching, intelligent piece of writing.
But let me get into Make It Scream Make It Burn: First of all, this is not a bad book. Jamison most certainly can tell stories and write. When she dives into the complexities of human relationships, dreams, desires – just the messiness that is human life – there are plenty of gold nuggets to gather throughout the collection.
Though the more essays I read the more I became unsatisfied with Jamison’s approach – always quit(ly/e) emotional, following her protagonists’ motivations, on the one hand (self)reflective but rarely about the aspects I wished for more reflection on. There are beautiful turns-of-phrases and thoughts which made me sit and think – then more often than not I asked myself if the idea seemed deep only on a surface level but the moment you step in to examine it you realize these are pretty shallow waters. While compellingly written a lot of the essays left me with the feeling that they are way less substantial and profound than they want me to believe.
That said I did find interesting moments in many of the essays and I did want to know more about some of the subject matters touched upon for example the whale 52 Blue (and the narratives around him) or the layers of Second Life. The last part of the collection consists of more autobiographical essays which I found least interesting – until I came to read “Daughter of a Ghost”, the essay in which Jamison writes about the relationship with her stepdaughter and the (fairytale but also societal) trope of the “horrific stepmother”: This is a beautiful, touching, intelligent piece of writing.
March 10, 2023
*Re-read March 20223 - a re-read has revealed just a mediocre set of essays. Blue 52 is by far the best of the bunch- a lonely whale singing out to the ocean and receiving no reply. I still think that Jamison is a bit self-important and most of her essays are something that invoke no interest in the subject. Her final essay on being pregnant and motherhood, eugh, no thank you. This is not a book I'd return to, it's getting donated to the library and I'm dropping from a 3 to a 1.5 star as there is only one essay out the lot worth reading in my opinion.
Original review: An interesting set of essays from Leslie Jamison. The writing is fluent yet feels at times a little self-inflated and supercilious. My favourite essay of the lot is Blue 52 about the "loneliest whale in the world"- again here, whilst the writing is impeccable and fascinating, Jamison manages to take this amazing story and question humans for anthropomorphising a whale and projecting their problems onto it. Of course we do, we're humans!! That's what we're best at!!
Perhaps if the author didn't adopt such an imperious and arrogant air in her writing, I would appreciate her style more. As it is, 3 stars.
Original review: An interesting set of essays from Leslie Jamison. The writing is fluent yet feels at times a little self-inflated and supercilious. My favourite essay of the lot is Blue 52 about the "loneliest whale in the world"- again here, whilst the writing is impeccable and fascinating, Jamison manages to take this amazing story and question humans for anthropomorphising a whale and projecting their problems onto it. Of course we do, we're humans!! That's what we're best at!!
Perhaps if the author didn't adopt such an imperious and arrogant air in her writing, I would appreciate her style more. As it is, 3 stars.
September 9, 2019
A book of essays. What about? Challenging perceptions, ultimately. The limitation of our own gaze. How journalism captures these limits and shares them out with their skewed areas of focus. If you can keep the theme in your mind as you're reading, this will make more sense. Otherwise this comes across as a bit scattered, a bit forced. I even considered not finishing it, because I lose patience with collections of essays. They tend not to give me enough to get invested, and then I have to move on to the next one. Still, there are some shining gems in here. The story of a photographer who has become enmeshed with the Mexican family she's been photographing for decades. The exploration of becoming a stepmother, in a culture where the mythos of stepmothers is saintly and demonic. The writing itself was a bit too wordy, a bit too introspective.
March 5, 2020
Leslie Jamison seems like a lovely person, so it pains me a little that I didn’t enjoy this collection as much I had expected. I had read some of the essays in other places, and those were stand-outs (especially "Museum of Broken Hearts" and "The Quickening"), but the rest felt predictable somehow. And the conclusions always follow the same note: Short emotive sentence. Short emotive sentence. Impact. Some nice stuff here; some mediocre stuff as well.
December 17, 2021
The book is structured into three parts: 'Longing', 'Looking' and 'Dwelling'. While the first two parts were enjoyable, the third part spoke to me.
'Dwelling' gets up close and personal to the author - from failed relationships to marriage, from food disorders to pregnancy. The essays alternate sadness and beauty, creating a narrative about change towards maturity with all its complexities.
'Dwelling' gets up close and personal to the author - from failed relationships to marriage, from food disorders to pregnancy. The essays alternate sadness and beauty, creating a narrative about change towards maturity with all its complexities.
December 11, 2019
In one of the essays that make up this book, Jamison references David Foster Wallace’s famous (infamous?) commencement speech by saying it was one of those things that people either adore and feel changed by, or disdain for being full of itself. Jamison indicates she falls in the former group, which would make sense, seeing as “Make it scream, make it burn” is probably polarizing in the same way.
The book is structured into three parts - part 1 begins with an essay on famous whale Blue 52 and meanders all around the ideas of loneliness and solitude. Part 2 begins in Sri Lanka and explores the themes of photography and the subject as viewed through the eyes of the artist. Part 3 is a memoir of sorts about Jamison, her family, her relationships and children, her struggles with illness, addiction, and eating disorders. As with any loosely tied-together collection of essays, some are better than others. The good ones are truly wonderful and leave you continuing to turn over their main story lines long after you’ve moved on to the next. Layover Story, Up in Jaffna, and Maximum Exposure all sparkle, and show a commendable amount of introspection, honesty, and social awareness. The “bad” ones aren’t so much bad as just.... lacking in gusto and strong interconnection. Jamison has a highly meandering, grayscale-toned way of analyzing the world and her experiences in it. Part 3 in particular seemed underwhelming, which surprised me, given that it was meant to be the most personal. FWIW, that part of the book is also very cis/white/heteronormative, which might have also colored my view of it. Some essays here deserve 5s, but overall I’d give this 3.5 stars.
The book is structured into three parts - part 1 begins with an essay on famous whale Blue 52 and meanders all around the ideas of loneliness and solitude. Part 2 begins in Sri Lanka and explores the themes of photography and the subject as viewed through the eyes of the artist. Part 3 is a memoir of sorts about Jamison, her family, her relationships and children, her struggles with illness, addiction, and eating disorders. As with any loosely tied-together collection of essays, some are better than others. The good ones are truly wonderful and leave you continuing to turn over their main story lines long after you’ve moved on to the next. Layover Story, Up in Jaffna, and Maximum Exposure all sparkle, and show a commendable amount of introspection, honesty, and social awareness. The “bad” ones aren’t so much bad as just.... lacking in gusto and strong interconnection. Jamison has a highly meandering, grayscale-toned way of analyzing the world and her experiences in it. Part 3 in particular seemed underwhelming, which surprised me, given that it was meant to be the most personal. FWIW, that part of the book is also very cis/white/heteronormative, which might have also colored my view of it. Some essays here deserve 5s, but overall I’d give this 3.5 stars.
August 23, 2019
Leslie Jamison is such a talented nonfiction writer. This set of essays is categorized around 3 categories, which explore Longing, Looking, and Dwelling. Jamison is at her best when she fuses an exploration of a topic with the personal (e.g., the portrayal of step-motherhood in literature and society and Jamison's own experience with step-motherhood) or explores individuals who might not otherwise be considered (e.g., people who feel a kinship with a special blue whale, those who live part of their lives in Second City, a museum dedicated to broken relationships). Only one of the pieces fell flat for me (one on James Agee's work that gives this collection its name).
Thanks to the author, Little Brown & Company, and NetGalley for a chance to review this forthcoming work in exchange for a review.
Thanks to the author, Little Brown & Company, and NetGalley for a chance to review this forthcoming work in exchange for a review.
December 3, 2019
I really enjoyed this collection. Its solid, not showy. It’s thoughtful, it’s well-written. I loved The Empathy Exams and this feels like a talented writer, and her writing, growing and maturing. There’s a warming here, a new subtlety.
I often think essayists overwork their idea of structure but the flow of these essays made sense to me. It goes from reported stories to critique to personal essays.
Although these were mostly written for different publications they feel of a piece. I trusted and enjoyed the journey through her predilections. There are recurring themes of people taking what they need from stories, of revelling in melancholy, of what’s lost when things change, but also what’s gained.
The reported essays focus less on the author, which was one change from her earlier collection. Travel also brought out some new notes. I also really enjoyed the way she discusses art, particularly photography, which felt like walking through an exhibition together and hearing her gradually form an opinion. The personal essays felt more reflective of her experiences than muddling through them. It didn’t feel like she was being pushed and pulled by the world and its whims as she wrote. I liked the sense of stability.
I often think essayists overwork their idea of structure but the flow of these essays made sense to me. It goes from reported stories to critique to personal essays.
Although these were mostly written for different publications they feel of a piece. I trusted and enjoyed the journey through her predilections. There are recurring themes of people taking what they need from stories, of revelling in melancholy, of what’s lost when things change, but also what’s gained.
The reported essays focus less on the author, which was one change from her earlier collection. Travel also brought out some new notes. I also really enjoyed the way she discusses art, particularly photography, which felt like walking through an exhibition together and hearing her gradually form an opinion. The personal essays felt more reflective of her experiences than muddling through them. It didn’t feel like she was being pushed and pulled by the world and its whims as she wrote. I liked the sense of stability.
October 15, 2019
I would walk over hot coals for Leslie Jamison. She somehow manages to turn subjects that seem vaguely cliché into entirely original and deeply profound meditations—I was particularly blown away by "52 Blue" and "We Tell Ourselves Stores in Order to Live Again." BUT the best essay in this collection is by far the last one, "The Quickening," where she juxtaposes her former eating disorder with her pregnancy and the birth of her daughter. I've read it 3 times now and it's made me sob each time.
April 29, 2024
Musings on longing, loneliness, obsession, and how our own lives can haunt us.
I’m not sure anything can top The Empathy Exams for me but these were still classic Jamison: exquisitely written and undeniably original.
I’m not sure anything can top The Empathy Exams for me but these were still classic Jamison: exquisitely written and undeniably original.
October 15, 2019
This collection is a mix of journalistic endeavors and personal essays. I usually prefer one or the other rather than a blend because organization can feel clunky and uneven. That was the case here. IMO, the strongest essays were the first and last, “52 Blue” and “The Quickening,” respectively.
December 3, 2019
Make it Scream, Make it Burn is an essay collection by Leslie Jamison that’s divided into three sections entitled Longing, Looking, and Dwelling. The opening essay of the first section—"52 Blue”—is one that I think of often. It describes a whale whose frequency is unprecedented and who, thereby, becomes an object of acute human interest. As is common for our species to do, many tender and relatable storylines are consigned to the whale’s unusual call, in order to find in it some company for our loneliness.
The thing with Jamison is that she takes offbeat subjects to elucidate the themes she has chosen to write about. To get to the universal, she hones her focus on the inordinately specific. You find yourself inextricably, compulsively hooked because the stories within the essays accept nothing less from the reader. The second section of the book, Looking, reflects on the power of gaze and how it holds the reins of a narrative. Personally, this is the section that gave me the most fodder to think. I kept on stopping in the middle while reading, looking up in amazement at Jamison’s observations regarding one facet of photography or another.
As we move through the book, the book tends towards the personal. The most intimate of these essays are contained in the last section of the book where Jamison talks about motherhood, sobriety, and finding love and its ever-accompanying counterpart, heartbreak. In this particular part of the book, I found myself smiling and nodding at Jamison’s candour. As a writer, she could’ve chosen to conceal parts that she thought shone a light on her vulnerability, her frailty. But she tells it all with utmost sincerity, never once shying away from uncomfortable truths about her own life. Perhaps, it’s because she sees her shortcomings not as something to be ashamed about, but as reminders of her humaneness.
As someone who has read hardly from the genre, this essay collection felt a great starting point to immerse myself in. Definitely recommend it for both avid readers of the genre as well as beginners like me.
The thing with Jamison is that she takes offbeat subjects to elucidate the themes she has chosen to write about. To get to the universal, she hones her focus on the inordinately specific. You find yourself inextricably, compulsively hooked because the stories within the essays accept nothing less from the reader. The second section of the book, Looking, reflects on the power of gaze and how it holds the reins of a narrative. Personally, this is the section that gave me the most fodder to think. I kept on stopping in the middle while reading, looking up in amazement at Jamison’s observations regarding one facet of photography or another.
As we move through the book, the book tends towards the personal. The most intimate of these essays are contained in the last section of the book where Jamison talks about motherhood, sobriety, and finding love and its ever-accompanying counterpart, heartbreak. In this particular part of the book, I found myself smiling and nodding at Jamison’s candour. As a writer, she could’ve chosen to conceal parts that she thought shone a light on her vulnerability, her frailty. But she tells it all with utmost sincerity, never once shying away from uncomfortable truths about her own life. Perhaps, it’s because she sees her shortcomings not as something to be ashamed about, but as reminders of her humaneness.
As someone who has read hardly from the genre, this essay collection felt a great starting point to immerse myself in. Definitely recommend it for both avid readers of the genre as well as beginners like me.
August 7, 2019
This collection is so insightful and thought-provoking! It is divided into three sections Longing, Looking and Dwelling. Jamison, a masterful essayist weaves together personal narrative with well researched fact. The subject matter within these essays are interesting, quirky and at times deeply personal. Themes of lonliness, obsession, loss, marriage, relationships, motherhood, and more. I appreciated her objectivity in each essay. You can feel her curiosity and connection to her subjects and the reader. Her graceful prose and storytelling abilities pull you right in. Reading her work is a unique experience and she is a very talented writer and essayist to say the least. If you haven't read her before definitely check this one out!
Available September 24th!
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Thank You to the publisher for sending me this #ARC. Opinions are my own.
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For more of my book content check out instagram.com/bookalong
Available September 24th!
•
Thank You to the publisher for sending me this #ARC. Opinions are my own.
•
For more of my book content check out instagram.com/bookalong
August 29, 2019
Leslie Jamison is the greatest living American essayist. This is much in the same vein as The Empathy Exams and The Recovering. More personal than the Empathy Exams and feels more together - more so that the essays are pointing towards the same thing. Early on I was hoping that there would be a move from the analytical reportage of the early essays to a more personal tone, which happened and fantastically so. A great collection.
October 24, 2019
DNF 38% Audiobook
Listened to four essays and in three of them she said something along the lines of “It felt wrong but I did it anyways,” including the “genocide tourism” she participated in, literally walking on the bones of the dead because “it felt honest”. What a naive, privileged and disrespectful person she seems to be. I had no interest in more of this.
Listened to four essays and in three of them she said something along the lines of “It felt wrong but I did it anyways,” including the “genocide tourism” she participated in, literally walking on the bones of the dead because “it felt honest”. What a naive, privileged and disrespectful person she seems to be. I had no interest in more of this.
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