Writers Written

Lately I’ve been following this Insta account, which as the name implies, frames the artist as subject. I then realized I’ve read several books in the past few weeks which feature real life writers as fictional characters.

Love and Fury by Samantha Silva

This novel examines the life of Mary Shelley’s mother, Mary Wollstonecraft, an early feminist who wrote about women’s rights in the 1700s. Her unconventional relationships, interest in the natural world, and tumultuous childhood are given a lyrical treatment by Silva. The birth scene that opens resignedly, “Another girl. In this world” ends with celebration, “Another girl, in this world!” And if you haven’t read Silva’s Mr. Dickens and His Carol, what the deuce!

The Sentence by Louise Erdrich

The only thing that gets Tookie through her period of incarceration was books. She lands a job in a Minneapolis bookstore and has a ready recommendation for anyone who walks through the door. That includes her most challenging customer, Flora, who upon death, decides she’s not ready to leave. As Tookie deals with Flora’s presence, and a powerful book she left behind, the bookstore’s owner, an author named Louise, must figure out how to keep the store running as a mysterious virus begins spreading. (Did I mention this is 2020?) Darkly humorous, the novel presents the events that are so fresh in our memories from the perspective of the essential employees who kept many of us sane, booksellers. And reflects on how the Native community responded as the racial reckoning erupted.