Narrative nonfiction with compelling authorial voice
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Anonymous
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I'm looking to read more narrative nonfiction written in a first-person voice, ideally where the author's story is part of the story. I'm thinking of Bet the Farm by Beth Hoffman and The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Sloot, for instance. I did not like Evicted by Matthew Desmond as much as everyone else. I'm in the middle of The Farmer's Lawyer by Sarah Vogel and liking it okay right now.
There are many memoirs with a compelling authorial voice (Educated, The Glass Castle, Wild, Eat/Pray/Love), but I'm looking for the hybrid books that are both a little bit memoir and a lot of narrative nonfiction about a topic/subject. I like it when my affection for the author keeps me interested but I'm learning about more than just his/her life as I read. Anyone have a sense of what I mean and have an recommendations to share? |
Anonymous
| Rhian Malan's My Traitor's Heart. South African journalist (white) writing about apartheid and growing up in SA. It's award winning and one of the most astonishing accounts I've ever read. |
Anonymous
| Hunger by Roxane Gay. |
Anonymous
are you capable of describing it and saying why it is compelling? |
Anonymous
Thanks for the recommendation! This response was not from the OP--I'm glad to have explanations, but I'm also happy just to have suggestions! |
Anonymous
| The Buried, by Peter Hessler. The subtitle is "An Archaeology of the Egyptian Revolution." The author and his family moved to Cairo at the very beginning of the Revolution, and the book is both a discussion of their experience and of Egyptian history and culture. He's an excellent writer and the book is a really interesting read. |
Anonymous
| Lab Girl by Hope Jahren |
Anonymous
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Jesmyn Ward's Men We Reaped is mostly memoir, but also discusses larger issues of race and poverty in Gulf Coast Mississippi.
I also recently enjoyed Why Fish Don't Exist, by Lulu Miller. It's about the life of biologist David Starr Jordan, who collected and named thousands of species of fish and was the first president of Stanford. She's prompted by her own experience of loss, and finds inspiration in Jordan's tenacity after an earthquake destroyed his collection of glass-jarred preserved species. There's interesting material about the history of natural science, especially taxonomy, but she also learns about Jordan's dark side, including his advocacy of eugenics and possible involvement in an actual murder, and she discusses experiences from her own life and how her ideas and feelings affect how she views the topic and how they are changed by what she learns. |
Anonymous
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The Arbornaut, Meg Lowman
The Line Becomes a River, Francesco Cantu Some of Rebecca Solnit's work would fit in this: Wanderlust: A History of Walking; Hope in the Dark; A Field Guide to Getting Lost; A Paradise Built in Hell; The Faraway Nearby. |
Anonymous
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If you like Glass Castle, you will love This Boys Life by Tobias Wolff. Basically a similar story, but from a boys perspective. I read those at the same time and put them together in my mind.
https://www.amazon.com/This-Boys-Life-Tobias-Wolff/dp/0802136680 |
Anonymous
| best narrative nonfiction I've read in the last few years was Hidden Valley Road. It reads like a novel. The author is completely on the outside of it, however, but he gets amazing interviews and access. |
Anonymous
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Long Live the Tribe of Fatherless Girls by T Kira Madden
Minor Feelings by Cathy Park Hong Crying in H-Mart by Michelle Zauner Trick Mirror by Jia Tolentino |
Anonymous
Yes, this was a great one! |
Anonymous
| the Argonaut by Maggie Nelson is awesome. memoir-y but she pulls in a lot of theory. Also it's racy. |
Anonymous
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Thanks for all these suggestions, fellow readers! I’ve read just enough of them to know that we’re all on the same page, and the rest look excellent. I can’t decide where to start!!
—OP |