The book equivalent of a pina colada at sunset
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It seems some reviewers were hoping The Writing Life would be something akin to Fiction for Dummies. Trust me, it's not. Instead, Annie Dillard, through anecdote, illustration and abundant imagination, reveals a little of the writing world that she so uniquely inhabits.
If you are new to Annie, prepare to be marvellously impressed. There are times when a single Annie Dillard sentence is so beautifully constructed that you'll wonder why you should ever bother picking up a book by another author again. As a writer, she is all sweet angles and breathtaking runs, like a star striker at football. Think Pele in paragraph form.
Intended more as a discourse on writing and the creative process of the craft, this is a great book for anyone who has ever wished to pick up a pen and leave so much as a few scribbled sentences for family, friends and/or posterity. Equally, it's for everyone who just loves reading and enjoys the opportunity to witness one of our greatest living writers take her talents out for a bit of a ramble. Annie, by this bloke, is always as good as it gets.
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Annie Dillard: The Writing Life
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If like me, you thought this title held real pragmatic promise for aspiring writers, you may be disappointed, as I was, to reach the end but feeling not much the wiser for doing so.
I had been looking for an insightful guide to the mechanics of writing and among the competition this seemed the best bet. Respecting Dillard's past work gave me some genuine reason for hope that I would not be disappointed in her approach. I was also expectant of tapping that same creative and highly metaphorical vein that runs through Dillard's prose.
Perhaps you are looking for the same river. However, one has to prospect ruthlessly to find gold near the surface in The Writing Life. Like her other works, one has to go deeper than the seam to find the gem among the ordinary grit. As far as helpful material for the writer is concerned, even the deep yielded little for me. The exception to this is, is undoubtedly Chapter 5, where she finally comes the nearest to translating her thoughts into the vernacular of the general reader by highlighting the external factors that form the writer's style and vision. Her observations and comments here do shed some light on her own inimitable way of writing and also give light into a book, that up to that point, had me groping for other 'light' relief. The rest deals more with the cause and effect of (her) writing, rather than rooting out causes and artistically penning the effects.
Despite its highly anecdotal and at times self-indulgent structure, The Writing Life does allow you to enter some of Dillard's wrestling to bring her heart to her subject matter, a task she executes consistently with vivacity and conviction. Like her other writings, it is Dillard bringing all those loose elements into a contained whole and finding her own voice to articulate the mystical process. Don't get me wrong; I admire Annie Dillard and her style. 'Pilgrim At Tinker Creek' forced me to live life, not merely exist in it and for that and her other books, I am grateful.
As an additional reader to the Dillard library I strongly recommend it. But, it is more accurate to frame it as, 'Dillard: The Writer', rather than, 'Dillard's Guide To Writing', or the title it now wears. By it on the former premise and you will discover much of the forming of Dillard and the natural rhythm that permeates her writing. By it on the later, as a pragmatic, 'how-to' and you will know how she does it, but still be left asking a lot of the fundamental questions of 'how'.
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Sit back. Relax. Enjoy The Writing Life!
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Annie Dillard's The Writing Life, for me, was like having a relaxing conversation with a friend about the pains and joys of writing. I identified with every sentence -- from starting over again on a writing project, to disliking the beginning of a work but loving the middle, to growing in this craft, etc... It is an addiction, and addictions are not easy to explain, so I understand the negative reviews of this book as well. Writing is an unexplainable yet enjoyable frustration. Annie Dillard's metaphores trying to explain the positive and negative aspects of writing -- from painting, to reeling in a log and fighting the forces of nature, to flying -- they are clear-cut, percise views of what writing is all about. This book is great for writers who just enjoy what writng is: annoying, aggrevating, frustrating, sole-searching, creative, self-understanding fun. Read this book. Relax. Enjoy The Writing Life.
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Poetry is abundant, sincerity is lacking
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My title just about sums it up. Annie Dillard uses very cute metaphors and word choice to convey her relationship with writing, but the whole thing fails to ring true. Her claims that she hates writing are contradicted by her sickeningly happy, cloud-borne tone; her metaphors are interesting but fall apart when examined as actual metaphors for writing. This work seems like an author with a contract trying to fill up 100 pages with as many ways to state "Writing is hard" as she can. She succeeds in fooling many of her readers into thinking she is saying something interesting or sincere. But I read her pretentious pontifications and I'm not impressed.
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