A Solemn Pleasure

March 16, 2015
Novelist Pritchard (Palmerino) offers an uneven but often moving collection of 15 essays on such varied topics as the search for a stable sense of place and the writing life. “We praise artists to devalue ourselves,” Pritchard writes in “A Graven Space,” which proves less concerned with its ostensible subject—Georgia O’Keeffe—than with the creation of false narratives around idols. “From the Deep South to the Desert South: An Epiphyte’s Confession” discusses Pritchard’s attempts to emulate famous Russian and American Southern writers early in her career, only to find she had become “a clever mimic.” Pritchard’s interest in location is clear throughout, whether she’s in London, Panjshir, or Edinburgh; the collection peaks with
her revelation that she had found, in the American Southwest, a place without attachments. Her writing is often at its best at its most somber, as when describing the hospice nurses who attended Pritchard’s dying mother as “midwives,” or recalling the life and death of an American soldier she met while embedded as a journalist in Afghanistan. One of the strongest selections, “Still, God Helps You” depicts her encounter with a Sudanese man who was sold into slavery as a child. The collection’s impact is blunted by repetitive essays on the craft of writing. Nonetheless, readers will treasure the book’s numerous memorable moments. Agent: Joy Harris, Joy Harris Literary Agency.

March 1, 2015
Essays in praise of writing and faith. Journalist, fiction writer, and teacher Pritchard (Creative Writing/Arizona State Univ.; Palmerino, 2014, etc.) collects 15 pieces that testify to her belief that art is "a form of active prayer" and writing literature, a "sacred vocation." The author addresses several essays to aspiring writers. In "Spirit and Vision," she exhorts writers to think of their lives as "a form of perpetual perishing, that as you lose yourselves in devotion and discipline to your work, you will attain the Beloved and begin to perceive the divine reality in all." Another essay recounts her search for a regional voice as indelible as those of William Faulkner, Eudora Welty, and Flannery O'Connor, writers "inextricably linked to place." In the brief but potent essay "Elephant in the Dark," Pritchard underscores the importance of a story's point of view, asking, "which character owns the story most deeply?" A few pieces are slight memoirs: the author recalls her experience researching at the British Library; teaching British, Irish, and American writing students at Warwick University; and reflecting on why she came to admire Georgia O'Keeffe. Longer pieces are more substantive. "Finding Ashton," a moving piece with a tragic ending, recounts her friendship with a female soldier that began when Pritchard was embedded with troops in Afghanistan. " 'Still, God Helps You': Memories of a Sudanese Child Slave" reveals the harrowing story of 33-year-old William Mawwin, whom the author met when he was a student in Phoenix, Arizona, where she lives. When she discovered that he had to drop out of community college due to financial difficulties, she heard a "voice" that commanded her to pay for his tuition and books. In the course of many interviews, he related his experiences of unspeakable degradation and cruelty as a child slave. As with many collections, the quality varies, but the best of these heartfelt essays bear powerful witness to suffering, compassion, and transcendence.

Starred review from April 15, 2015

In this collection of essays, Pritchard (English, Arizona State Univ.; Spirit Seizures) meditates on subjects as varied as the artist's role, the importance of voice in writing, the particular magic of dachshunds, mourning, loss, modern-day slavery, and bearing witness through it all. Packed with musings and observations, each essay is as insightful as it is engaging. Highly readable, Pritchard's writing is poignant and thought provoking, never condescending. Her thoughts on loss and mourning are relatable, while her ode to the Frisbee-loving S will touch a chord among pet parents far and wide. This is the kind of book that brushes on the personal and political, life's highs and lows. Each piece can be read as a stand-alone or as part of Pritchard's larger narrative on bearing witness. VERDICT Pritchard will make you cry, think, and laugh; each essay is filled with wit and wisdom from writers old and new, informing Pritchard's own careful observations. A great read for writers, readers looking for enlightenment, and those who savor nonfiction that explores the spiritual through the everyday.--Gricel Dominguez, Florida International Univ. Lib.

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