How to Write an Autobiographical Novel: Essays

A very special personal book of essays the sum of which relates the journey of the person and how it informs him as he struggles to create his art, in this case, writing.

A beautifully written collection of essays about writing and so much more. "The Rosary," about the author's Brooklyn garden, was a particular favorite.

This was slow to engage me but once it did I was all the way in. The unexpected overlaps of biography (our involvements in ACT UP, for one) were a poignant pleasure.

This is gorgeous. I read this so slowly because every word mattered. Obviously this is not a how-to book in any traditional sense, though Chee shares a great deal about the writing process, and the power of word well wielded. He also shares words of wisdom learned from his lineup of mentors.

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Marilynne Robinson, Annie Dillard, Deborah Eisenberg ( what a bench!) But though this is not a how-to it is in fact primer on why to write and how to live. Not how to live to be well and happy and unscathed. Chee is very much not unscathed. But a writer needs to truly live in order to be able to impart anything of value, and Chee has lived. This is a personal and political coming of age story of a Gay Korean-American boy, touched by betrayal, the loss of a parent, wealth and poverty and wealth, and the end of wealth. He uses all of those things, and a boatload of very hard work, to write as he does. In the end Chee focuses less on the how and more on the why, and if you can answer the why you are pretty much invincible. I don't know what to say except this is SO GOOD.

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A powerful collection of essays by an incredible writer, about everything from writing to roses, to surviving.

This isn't the book I thought it would be when I picked it up and got it from the Hershey Library; but it was the book that it needed to be, and the book I was glad it was once I was done reading it.

I've never read any of Alexander Chee's other works. Will I now? Probably, but not guaranteed. But

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this was an important and terrific collection of essays. And definitely one that any aspiring writer needs to read. Any level of aspiring, and even actual published, writer should read this at some point. Its poignant, intelligent, knowledgeable, and understanding. Like a pat on the back or shoulder, saying "I understand you" and "I am here for you". Which, at most times, is what the writer needs most, and craves the most, and in a lot of cases, is why they write in the first place.

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Beautiful and consoling. Esp like what he says about fiction being freeing, truth not, and meaning-making, why we write, to bridge author and reader. memorable chapter about roses. beautiful writing.

Collection of essays that pertain to life, identity, and writing. Notwithstanding the title, this book is not a traditional “how to” book about writing. It is more about finding an authentic voice, and how the events in Chee’s life shaped him as a writer. He writes about significant

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experiences (such as his Korean American heritage, the death of his father when he was sixteen, his involvement in gay activism) and how these have influenced his development as an author. There are some beautiful and moving pieces here. I particularly appreciated his essays about tending a rose garden and how he used his own childhood trauma as the foundation for his first novel. Chee is a talented writer, and these essays were a pleasure to read.

“The story of your life, described, will not describe how you came to think about your life or yourself, nor describe any of what you learned. This is what fiction can do.”

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