![]() ![]() She begins it with a memory of being drunk at a Passover dinner when she is 8 and heads from there into the serious business of becoming intentionally lost. And though knowledgeable about many subjects, too often she draws connections among them that are difficult for the reader to follow.Ĭonsider the first essay, "Open Door," as a test of whether you are on her wavelength. One thing we learn about Solnit from her personal essays is that being lost often involves the act of leaving: leaving home, leaving lovers, leaving "the conversation, the obligation." Attentive to physical detail, she creates evocative imagery throughout the book. From her own history she recalls childhood wounds, missing grandmothers and failed love affairs. She sweeps through topics as disparate as endangered species, Alfred Hitchcock's Vertigo, punk rock, butterflies and ruined buildings. In nine loosely related essays Solnit draws metaphorical maps of deserts and of some urban spaces as well. ![]()
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