'Life,like a poem,is a series of choices'In her long-awaited debut memoir,You Could Make This Place Beautiful,award-winning poet Maggie Smith explores in lyrical vignettes the end of her marriage and the beginning of a surprising new life. With the spirit of reflection and empathy she's known for,Smith interweaves snapshots of a life with meditations on secrets,anger,forgiveness and narrative itself. It is a story about a mother's fierce and constant love for her children,and a woman's love and regard for herself. Above all,this memoir is an argument for possibility. Smith reveals how,in the aftermath of loss,we can discover our power and make something new. Something beautiful.
Publisher: Canongate BooksISBN: 9781805302421Number of pages: 320Weight: 433 gDimensions: 220 x 144 x 31 mmEdition: Main
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This book is extraordinaryA composite of creativity,motherhood and determinationRich in nuance and unrelenting in its honesty,Smith's memoir is a bittersweet study in both grief and joyReminds you that you can (...) survive deep loss,sink into life's deep beauty,and constantly,constantly make yourself newA poet's memoir...(Smith) has an uncanny ability to boil down giant ideas into tiny,dense sentences that are both playful and heartbreakingSmith turns to prose to chronicle the end of her marriage and the hard,beautiful work of loving and valuing herselfIn this lightning bolt of a debut memoir,Maggie Smith gives us the truth of healing in form as much as story: getting through is no pretty,linear narrative. It's one chapter forward and five chapters back. You Could Make This Place Beautiful gave me back a part of myself I thought was gone for good: the knowledge that beauty isn't something out there to find. It's in usYou Could Make This Place Beautiful is a sparklingly brilliant memoir-in-vignettes that only Maggie Smith could write. Yet this is a book for everyone - who among us has never had our world upended by the loss of a relationship Maggie Smith's powerful mastery of language,and amazing ability to portray life in all its rich messiness,is on full display in this bold,brutally candid,and yes,beautiful,bookA beautiful book...stunningBeautifully written...Smith should be just as celebrated for her prose
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