The Situation and the Story

Sometimes I need a book that will inspire me not to continue writing, but to start; kinda like when I binge watch YouTube book talks—that’s the feeling this book brings over me—inspired. It’s a book that helps me write anything because I’m a person who struggles with—yet craves the ability to— strip a piece as bare as possible. Strip a story of its fluff and dissect its roots. I need to know what to save for later, and Gornick expressing the difference between situation and story is something I always go back to in order to help declutter my work. 

Gornick’s The Situation and the Story is a powerful lesson in what makes a true story more than just anecdote and how the best memoirists deepen their work to achieve universal appeal. Gornick is a master of the memoir form herself, as well as a respected teacher, and her valuable insights into the constructed “I’ on the page are strengthened by the numerous authors and books she examines in order to make her lucid points. A meticulously assembled craft handbook for anyone wanting to examine the engine of memoir to see how the various moving parts come together to create… show more.