FICTION

Heating & Cooling: 52 Micro-Memoirs

by Beth Ann Fennelly
Norton. Oct. 2017. 128p. ISBN 9780393609479. $22.95; ebk. ISBN 9780393609486. MEMOIR
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The subtitle of Mississippi Poet Laureate Fennelly's memoir provides readers all the explanation they need. Each of the "52 micro-memoirs" range in length from a sentence to several pages. The author covers motherhood, marriage, childhood, family, writing, her parents, the death of a beloved sister, the quirks of neighbors and friends, aging, her husband, and a multitude of other observations. It may seem incongruous, but Fennelly packs a lot into each short essay, with some light in subject matter, while others have a sudden punch-in-the-gut feel, weighted with existential exploration.
VERDICT Potent despite their brevity, many of Fennelly's micromemoirs bring hefty topics to the surface; the lack of excessive text allows readers to fill in the gaps in the narrative themselves. Readers who enjoyed Anne Lamott's memoirs (Bird by Bird; Hallelujah Anyway) will delight in these pieces.
Reviewed by Rachael Dreyer, Pennsylvania State Univ. Dept. of Libs. , Aug 21, 2017
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