Book Review: Mary Karr's _Lit_

It's ironic, or at least self reflexive, that I should come across and read Mary Carr's Lit, which chronicles, amongst other things, a sojourn in a mental hospital, while I was in such a place myself. I'm not dodging this issue, by the way: I just need to write a review of this book while it's still fresh in my head, having read its 385 pages over two days between groups and appointments and involuntary meds-induced naps and not having access to a copy of it for reference purposes.

Given those circumstances, this isn't going to be a review like reviews I submit to literary magazines. It'll be more of a quick-and-dirty. It's important for me to be reading memoirs like this, since memoir is going to be one component of my MFA thesis on which I'm embarking, and dealing with stories around health and soul-health is an important aspect of what will be memoir'd.

Lit is plastered with rave reviews, including one from no less than Michiko Kakutani on the front cover. Given this unanimous ecstasy, I was distinctly underwhelmed. In fairness, though, without that billing I wouldn't have been disappointed. The memoir is very readable, sometimes funny, sometimes poignant, reflective enough that it isn't just a me-me-me (although of course it is that too).

I learned both some how tos and some how not tos from reading this book. Number one: Get a better editor! Of course that's always my pet peeve; how many books have I read, sympathizing and loving the book, and thinking about every three minutes "Can I be your editor and have you do this again?" Seriously, though, throughout the book the use of em dashes and commas is so erratic and often so ill advised that where it doesn't actually distort the meaning (which it does) it often made my eyes hurt. This being the case, it's not surprising that the whole panoply of pet peeves is out in force, from gerund use to comma splices; from sentence structure to sequence of tenses.The word "scrim" appears thrice--too many for such a word. I saw the word "Ziploc" spelled three different ways; the name "Spencer" spelled differently twice in as many lines.

The latter leads me to the biggest how not to I learned from reading this. Karr uses present tense as her main narrative tense. It's been popular to do this, the last thirty years or so, to impart a sense of vividness and immediacy. I've always been suspicious of the device because I've always loved the richness of time relationships language offers us. How wonderful, for example, that the present perfect allows for us to be in a present state as a result of a past action (I have arrived~I came here and am here now). But in this book, the present tense for narrative really doesn't work. It's not just a matter of making the narrative feel one-dimensional, lacking time relationships. There are many sentences structured something like "A few days after the funeral, she is walking down the street..." This may not look too bad out of context, but the first part is past tense solidly, and the present tense right after can only be unnatural. I don't have examples from the text, but there were many that were jarring indeed.

Some of these jarring instances, however, were created by what's probably the biggest how to of the book for me, which is that Karr reflects as a present time writer on the narrative of her past and inserts these reflections into the narrative. Present time writer and past time experiencer really requires past tense narrative. However, these reflections are probably the most special thing in the book, especially when she gives glimpses of the process of writing the book: not wanting to spend too much time on an episode, wishing a character had signed off on her version of events, choosing a pseudonym or pseudonymous location for an event. These reflections show that the author has her reader in mind and understands what a reader might want to know about, but also is aware of herself both as writer and experiencer--her privacy and the ways in which she wishes to present information are part of the relevant material.

I haven't read Karr's two earlier memoirs--and what's up with THREE memoirs?? But I was at a disadvantage for it. In at least one place, Karr summarizes material from an earlier memoir, but even apart from that there were enough untied ends that it was clear that material presented elsewhere was being assumed. Editorial and present tense problems aside, this may be the biggest problem with the memoir: it doesn't stand alone. But calling this a problem may be simply a matter of perspective. What single work of any writer stands alone? I still wish there weren't so many untied ends, though. 

Their presence prevents me from knowing whether a lack I see in the storytelling would be solved by supplying it from an earlier memoir or if it really is missing. The problem is this: The memoir is dealing with Karr's finding sobriety after years of drunkenness and depression--specifically sobriety via Alcoholics Anonymous, with a kicking-and-screaming arrival at trust in a Higher Power which finally leads her to Catholicism. Now, the book contains plenty about the wretchedness of being a desperate addicted alcoholic trying to claw her way out of an unbearable life situation, but precious little depiction of the earlier phase where drinking alcohol provides a high, exhilaration, a sense of invincibility. Even the younger Mary is at best verklempt. And yet the exhilaration and fun and adventure is referred to as something lost. Except that alcoholism runs in her family and she has pain to get away from, I just didn't feel like I got to know enough about why she became dependent on alcohol in the first place.

If I were to be writing about agreeing to take meds to control bipolar mania, I would want to talk about how mania was making life unmanageable and leading to ever deepening depressions for sure, but I would also want to talk about the experience of the manic high and why it is so hard to give up.  

One last comment, which sort of fits under the information not disclosed rubric: Karr sure makes an awful lot of comments about weight and thinness. She even lists thinness as the number one reason for why she's not the most suffering of afflicted people--ahead of being white, intelligent, HIV-negative... She mentions her own weight going up and mostly down, repeatedly, and depicts herself denying herself food and forcing herself to exercise. The anorectic in the mental hospital is the only one referred to as beautiful, consistently.  So what next? A memoir about her eating disorder? Not meaning to be mean...but it seems like there's something there and she's playing it coy.

And now I'm going away to think more about why this was such a quick and easy and even compelling read for me, even though aspects of the crafting drove me crazy and I didn't especially care about the character. If I could figure that out, I'd really know something about the intangibles of good writing. Answers in the comments, please! (As well as please tell me what to do about the 13,907 comments waiting for me here, all of them likely spam save maybe a half dozen?!)

Poetry Performance and Bonus Review

Hi everyone! A beautiful day to all.

First, a quick announcement. This week, on Thursday evening, there's going to be a great Poetry show in Anchorage as part of the Spenard Jazz Festival. And I'm going to be participating! You can see my name in tiny print down toward the bottom left.

I'll be reading four of my poems. There are going to be seventeen poets, plus dancers and musicians, so I get the opportunity to be one among many and I'm looking forward to being inspired! It's at the Hugi Lewis Studio on Northern Lights, on the west side of town. I've never been there before. It will be an honor to perform side by side with the winners of the recent statewide poetry competition and others. And this will be just the day before the Kachemak Bay Writers' Conference starts. Rita Dove is coming to Homer! I'm so excited. Just wanted to share--if you're in Anchorage, come on over on Thursday night.

My giveaway ends tomorrow. Today, I have a bonus review to share. As I mentioned in my review of Must Have Been Something I Ate, the author talks about 'new' superfoods and supplements. I was curious about sacha inchi seeds, which she mentions a lot as a great omega 3 source, and Vega were kind enough to send me a few samples of the Saviseeds that she often uses in recipes.

I was a little surprised to see that they are lightly toasted, but some research showed that that is the traditional way that they have always been prepared in Peru, where they originate.

Since they are omega-3-rich seeds, I was expecting them to be tiny and mucilaginous, like chia and flax. Wrong! They are about the size of a small peanut, and taste remarkably similar to peanuts too.

I used my sample of 'oh natural' flavor (lightly sea salted) to make the pesto linguini recipe from the book. It was enough for a half-recipe.

 She suggests pairing the pesto with zucchini linguini, cooked pasta or quinoa, or kelp noodles. I like this kind of flexibility, and I chose instead to make a carrot-jicama 'slaw as the base, with some green beans and corn kernels.

The pesto consists of basil, sacha inchi seeds (salted and lightly toasted), hemp seeds, olive oil, salt. I was surprised that there was no lemon in the recipe, but tried it that way and it was good. I didn't have enough basil, so I used a little fresh parsley and oregano too.

The carrots and jicama were so beautiful that I was loath to spread a green sauce all over them...

 ...but they looked beautiful that way too, garnished with a sliced tomato and some flowers from our chives that successfully wintered over.

I found the added salt too much, given that the seeds were already salted, but the people I served it to liked it a lot (I tend to prefer less salt than most). I enjoyed the creaminess and crunch that the Saviseeds provided and am really intrigued by the peanutty quality of their flavor. A high omega-3 peanut?

Have you tried sacha inchi seeds?

Vega Book Review and Giveaway: "Must Have Been Something I Ate" by Peggy Kotsopoulos

When we returned from our trip a couple weeks ago, I was excited to find a box of goodies awaiting me!

Vega protein powders are always a delight, but I was even more excited to receive two copies of Holistic Nutritionist Peggy Kotsopoulos' new book, Must Have Been Something I Ate: The simple connection between what you eat and how you look and feel. Two copies, yes: I'm giving one of them away and I'll get to that shortly. First, here's my review of the book.

What's In the Book?
The first part of the book consists of twelve chapters, organized into four parts, on the connection between Food and Mood, Weight, Beauty and Health. The second part contains twenty-five recipes illustrating the principles laid out in the first part. There's a full listing of resources and references at the back.

Two Beautiful Things About This Book
I want everyone to know these two things about Must Have Been Something I Ate:
1) As part of commitment to human empowerment through educated choices, a portion of the proceeds from each sale of the book will be donated to the Because I am a Girl initiative, a global movement for social change that seeks to help eliminate global poverty and claim a brighter, safer future for girls globally.
2) Peggy Kotsopoulos dedicates this book to her parents, for thinking, amongst other things, that she's not 'totally nuts (more like a seed).' Wouldn't you love to be 'like a seed' rather than 'nuts?' 

What's the Pitch of the Book?
The meta-message from the way that the book is presented is that Peggy is your fun, empathic friend and aide. You may be far too busy to pay attention to food and diet, but Peggy can hold your hand, sympathize, explain what's going on in simple terms, and show you fun ways to make things better. The tone is familiar and colloquial, full of words like "BFF," "fave," "delish," "'Kay?"--and since I'm a collector of words, I have to mention that she's responsible for introducing me to the most hideous hybrid word I've seen or heard in a long time: "thuttocks" (horrors)!

The chosen layout and color/font scheme reinforces this friendly, unintimidating approach: the main font is the kind seen more frequently in a pamphlet than in a full-length book, always clear and easy to read. As an editor myself, I have to say that I wish there were fewer typos, since typos plus colloquial style can lower credibility in some eyes, but none of the typos are actually misleading and without an editor's eye, they may not be distracting.

Besides, this book won't only be interesting and useful to neophytes and busy business-women who have no idea about nutrition.

In More Detail
The coverage of health-and nutrition-related topics is quite impressive, and is more than initially meets the eye, given the cheeky-cheerful tone. Kotsopoulos explains the functions of hormones, neurotransmitters and digestive enzymes in detail, and covers topics as diverse as coping with stress (both through food and through other means), skin care and food combining. She gives specific recommendations for foods and supplements for specific requirements, with reinforcing sidebars of tips (like soaking legumes, eating vitamin C with iron) and notes from scientific studies. Even for an unrepentant nutrition geek like myself, there were details and specifics that were of interest. Her coverage is also very up-to-date and includes discussion of top 'new' superfoods like medicinal mushrooms and sacha inchi seeds, and supplements like relora (a magnolia extract that gently supports adrenal function: I've been taking it myself for about a year and it has definitely helped).

Food Orientation
Although this is a Vega book, it is not a vegan book per se. Seafood such as oysters, clams and halibut, as well as the super sea veggies, feature as recommended sources of certain nutrients. On the other hand, all the recipes are, or can be, vegan (one has optional feta cheese). There is a strong emphasis on plant-based nutrition but I'm guessing that the 'vegetarian/vegan' discussion is outside the scope of the book: perhaps Kotsopoulos doesn't want to alienate 'newbies' with that topic. She does talk about the downsides of eating a lot of meat and dairy in various places. It seems like she focuses on the positive, on what things are good to emphasize in the diet, and lets the rest of the message come through tacitly.

That said, I would like to know her thoughts on the whole animal products topic. She mentions 'bad saturated fats' at one point, but later extols the virtues of coconut oil. As many of us know, this is not an inconsistent position, but I would have liked some explanation of why coconut oil is so much better than beef tallow, for example!

Similarly, she seems to err in favor of low-glycemic eating, and talks about the problems with over-consumption of sugar. But in the recipe section, she has a delicious sounding 'mash' recipe involving parsnips and cauliflower (I would have made it to review here, but parsnips have been unavailable where I live for a few weeks!)--this would be a great place to explain why she uses those vegetables instead of the more traditional potatoes. And although she mentions caffeine consumption as implicated in poor sleep, in the recipe section she recommends a cacao-based smoothie as a good evening drink--not for me, that's for sure, delicious though the recipe is!

I don't think it's a bad thing that I'm left 'wanting more' in certain areas. For a short, very easy-reading book, Must Have Been Something I Ate contains a surprisingly large amount of information presented in a way that may, additionally, appeal to people who are not ordinarily 'into nutrition.'

What About the Recipes?
The twenty-five recipes include smoothies, salads, appetizers, soups, a couple of noodle (kelp and zucchini) dishes, a stuffed/baked peppers recipe and several desserts, some baked, some raw or semi-raw. All the recipes are simple and beautiful, and attractively photographed. Some contain several components that could be made separately or together. As I mentioned above, they're all basically vegan--optional feta cheese on one of the salads.

Some of the recipes use pre-made products: often Vega products. Sometimes they're used in innovative ways, like a dash of protein powder enlivening a salad dressing. A crostini recipe also starts with whole-grain bread, and maca-sure and vega-vibracy bars are crumbled for dessert crusts. For me, this is a downside: I always prefer to make things from scratch. Since part of the message of the book is to move away from processed foods, there is also a slight dissonance there. On the other hand, Kotsopoulos does note that companies producing healthful packaged foods are on the rise, and she's providing a service by showcasing these. There are plenty of recipes that are 'make from scratch,' and if part of her target audience is used to the 'open a box and heat up' style of cooking, these 'short-cut' recipes may be a boon.

I tried out a couple of her recipes. I made the chocolate mousse, based on pumpkin and sweetened with maple syrup.

For once in my life, I actually followed the recipe exactly--I went out and bought maple syrup for the first time in years!

She says simply to stir all together with a fork: I used the handheld blender...

...and concluded that a fork might actually have been better!

I served this to Phil, his daughter and her fiance.

Phil's daughter and her fiance, who are major chocolate-lovers and lovers of traditional comfort foods, both loved it, and were surprised by how much they loved it. Phil thought it was "just ok." There's a pattern here: so often, I make something 'alternative,' everyone loves it and Phil thinks it's "ok." In this case, he doesn't love maple syrup, and I should probably have called it something other than 'chocolate mousse,' because he was expecting 'ditto chocolate mousse!' Aside from that, some very mainstream eaters found it delicious. I was super-impressed by the way that the maple syrup enhanced the chocolate flavor: that's one for me to remember.

I also made her lentil soup.

This time, I confess, I didn't follow it precisely--because I didn't have the exact ingredients! I subbed a couple of veggies. As it stands, it's fairly bland--which is a great starting point, but I'll probably add some more spice to it. This is a great, easy recipe for a big, hearty batch of soup which, as she suggests, can be frozen in batches.

To Win Your Copy
Yes, finally--the Giveaway! I hope that you're intrigued to read the book for yourself. Here's how you can enter the Giveaway:

1) Become a follower of my blog--leave a comment to say that you have, or that you already are.

2) Like Vega on Facebook and leave a comment back here.

3) Follow me on Twitter (@Ela_HG) and leave a comment back here.

4) Follow Vega on Twitter and leave a comment back here.

5) Tweet about this giveaway: please include the link to this post and leave a comment back here.

6) Mention this giveaway on your blog--you can leave five 'entry' comments back here with the link.

Winner will be chosen at random on Tuesday June 7th.

"Recipes for Poets" and Two Book Reviews

I hope everyone's having a beautiful day. No more charging moose up here today, but I did bike past a mother and two calves yesterday afternoon: they'd unashamedly taken possession of a neighbor's front lawn, despite her three horses and two dogs close by. Been a long winter and frozen alder twigs offer meager sustenance: they must be so excited for the grass!

When we left for our trip three weeks ago, I was perplexed by an identity crisis of sorts, hinging on whether it's ok to talk about food so much when it's poetry that holds my life together. Thanks to a post from Erin, my attention was drawn to the 32 poems blog and the invitation there to participate in a round-up of recipes for poets. Most poets have other work that distracts attention from their art, you see, so time management is of the essence. Especially when you've just been on a trip and are discombobulated and finding it hard to get back down to any kind of work; when checking Paris Review or reading blogs seems terribly urgent, even if far less important than the real work. I've spent much of today translating Greek lemmata and am feeling better.

So, on May 20th--two days away--I'll be posting a twenty minute recipe that would provide a healthy meal to a poet, or anyone else, without much time-donation. I was supposed to say so by May 15th, but I hope they'll have me anyway. I'm excited to connect with other poets who also love to write about food: a sense of camaraderie will eclipse any anxieties about not fitting neatly under one specific label. I'll stick with something spring-like and delicious. Maybe the next day, I'll share some specifics of my latest diet tweak plus exercise ramp-up that I mentioned.

There are several book clubs in Homer. I'm in two of them and both happen to meet on the same day, which was yesterday. So, I read two very different books in quick succession: one non-fiction, one fiction, both 'first books,' both written by women around my own age (yes, I felt envy!). Book club reminds me of seminars in grad school in certain ways, although I have to be careful not to think of it like that too much. But there's the same sense of stimulation from hearing others' thoughts, the same imperative to walk the tightrope of diplomacy and forcefulness when delivering my own observations.

In the first book club, we read The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot. This is the story of the woman who died of cervical cancer in 1951, but whose cervical cancer cells had been cultured before her death and continue to live and divide to this day. It is also the story of her family, indigent, black, uneducated, who were not informed of any of this until much later, and their attempts to understand and also simply to survive in the world.

It's an impressive and informative read: I appreciated the refresher in basic biology and was fascinated and appalled by turns to read of the sociohistoric and medical ethics aspect of the story. And the thoroughness of the research both of the scientific facts and of the human connections, the actual people involved in the story, was magnificent and truly respectful to those involved. I kept imagining the writing process of this book: the reader is allowed to feel very close to that process.

Everyone in the book club was similarly impressed. It provoked some interesting discussion among us over medical ethics and whether a person owns their discarded body parts.

In the second book club, there was unanimity also, and this time there were more misgivings in it. We read Michelle Hoover's The Quickening: a novel set in Depression-era agricultural Iowa and told through the alternating perspectives of two very different farm women, neighbors.

It is a bleak story, as befits the era and place perhaps. In terms of the 'show, don't tell' dictum, there is very little 'telling' as such and the 'showing' is effected through the taciturn diction of the time and place. This means that so many things are implied or half-said, one has to read between the lines a lot. I 'got' the various implications and felt inveigled into a world of closed doors and mouths, where one might understand weighty events only dimly, be ostracized for little reason, go into labor before realizing one was pregnant. However, several other people didn't 'get' them and felt both confused and annoyed with the author for not being clear. If she wants us to know what happened in the story, the argument went, what does she gain by sort-of half-showing it and then bringing it up in full much later?

I find these kinds of criticisms very instructive, and apply them to my own writing, since (as an avowed Heraclitus-lover) I have an affinity for riddles and obscurity. If several people don't 'get' something I've written when I share it at writers' group, I usually revise it. It's a judgment call we all have to make: touching the mystery without obfuscating. (Did I just obfuscate by my choice of word there?)