Didn't capture me, so I returned it. At this moment in time, I have pretty much no interest in reading journalistic essays from the perspective of a privileged intellectual immersing herself in places where she's an outsider and examining the experience of doing so. I don't think there's anything inherently wrong with this exercise, I just feel as if I've read (and experienced) this narrative too many times to learn much from it. I'd rather hear from different voices. ( )

The first story in the collection was STRONG. And I mean really strong. I expected each following essay would be equally as profound, however as the book progressed I found myself bored and frustrated. While it is evident that Jamison is an excellent writer, I often felt like her narcissism plagued each scenario at hand. ( )

Two smart readers recommended this title, so I expected to love it. Not so much. The title essay = absolutely the price of the book, or in my case, the time to check it out of the library. A couple of the other essays came close to the elegance and insight of the title piece. Mostly, I struggled with the sense that I should be impressed. Good writing is difficult to produce but effortless to read. The hard work of this intelligent writer flagged page after page to the point of distraction -- the writerly work rather than the content stole the spotlight.

( )

Felt like a lot of naval gazing by a millennial who thinks she's more worldly and insightful than she really is. I enjoyed one or two I the essays, but I'm really surprised this was on so many "best of" lists. ( )

(I am a terrible review writer.) I loved this book, I loved her voice, I loved the thickness of the paper, I loved her investigations into feelings and the why of feelings and the quirky and interesting groups of people she met along the way. Strongly recommended. ( )