Uncovering the Power of Personal Narrative: An Exploration of The Situation and the Story

Mohan Mathew Chacko: Lives up to the expectation set by the title.

India on Nov 29, 2023

David T: This is a classic book and if you have some writing ability, I dont, you will find it both fascinating and inspiring.

Fo me however it was a great read, I really found it a fascinating book BUT it was not much help for me at my low level of ability to help me write my stories. Its like this is a text for university students and I am still in primary school. It was in a way demotivating in the way that an amateur runner might feel put off after a training session with Olympic athleets.

United Kingdom on Oct 21, 2023

Sandy R. Jimenez: Gornick manages to articulate fundamental, but slippery, questions about what goes into an effective piece of memoir writing. As a survey of the form of memoir, and exploration of various notable works and their respective authors' perspectives and approaches, this book is an illuminating must-read for any writer.

United States on Aug 30, 2022

Coffee Break Time: Well, life is busy, but I opened the book & said I have time to read one story. It began so smoothly like the beginning of the movie To Kill a Mockingbird and Scout Finch starts talking. She just draws you in and connects her life to yours. I read the story "He and I" and I can't wait to read more. It's here with me at work now and I wish I could go off in a corner and read. I'm sure I will learn something useful from Vivian Gornick's book besides being enchanted by the stories.

United States on Jun 02, 2020

Karen Hume: I love memoirs. This book taught me to be a more discerning reader of them. My standards for a memoir are higher now and that’s not a bad thing. Gornick writes beautifully. I look forward to reading everything she has written, including her own memoir, and to rereading this book when and if I decide to write a memoir of my own.

Canada on Feb 05, 2020

Shirley Asquith: Good tips

United Kingdom on Mar 15, 2016

T. M. Teale: I heard about Vivian Gornick long before I discovered her book, _The Situation and the Story_. About 25 years ago, I had the good fortune to attend Gornick’s presentation at a local college, and I’ve been a fan ever since. There is something about her writing that is just like her in person: authentic, completely honest, and absolutely serious. Gornick will call you out--in person or on the page. You must be fearless to discover yourself in your writing.

Granted that most memoirs and autobiographies seem to be written by Anglo-Americans, _The Situation and the Story_ is for everyone, but it’s not a how-to book. You’ve got to do soul searching, and you’ve got to love discovering words and how to use them. What Gornick says about writing is true for all: “A memoir is a work of sustained narrative prose controlled by an idea of the self under obligation to lift from the raw material of life a tale that will shape experience, transform event, deliver wisdom” (91). In other words, the memoir you write is about yourself, but you can’t simply record everything, every time someone hurt you, or all the pains you have suffered. Writing about your life is an art and...

United States on Dec 22, 2015

Sophie Jean: Perfect looking book, great delivery (Prime) I splurged. So happy to get this; other writers borrow and never return. I' read every work Vivian Gornick wrote. I wish SHE appreciated herself as much as I do. Every writer needs this book. Every memoir writer must owny, read, and re-read this book. The must, I insist, must, read Fierce Attachments. I own every Gornick book. I have to replace them because somebody borrows and never returns. Sigh. But I must own every copy, especially these two, to refer back to many times a year. I hold friends captive reading passages to them aloud.

United States on Sep 13, 2015

Boudicca: A new approach to memoir writing which helps to breathe life into what might otherwise be a boring chronicle of facts.

Canada on Mar 09, 2013

Valerie: It feels disrespectful to offer anything but praise for a book that captured the distance it takes to execute memoir pieces successfully. For writers wrangling with their personal material, trying to turn it into an engaging narrative that along the way may enlighten the reader, this is the premiere text. My purpose was to know what it took and this book describes the process with convincing clarity. What I did not enjoy about the book was its format. It was organized like a text with samples of mostly obscure memoirs and personal essays that the author then critiqued for you. Without having read those works in their original form I had only a cursory interest in her description of the content of those pieces and found myself reading hurriedly to get to the part about technique.

When I purchased the book I knew nothing about it and mistakenly expected a discussion of memoir writing without frills. The book was more than that. Without a doubt, I think it is filled with essential information for aspiring memoir writers. If you happen to be an instructor yourself, there are questions you may find useful at the back of the book.

United States on Feb 28, 2013