I CAME ALL THIS WAY TO MEET YOU
by Jami Attenberg
Attenberg has made her mark in the fiction world by writing about the joys and terrors of family dysfunction along with essays surrounding food, travel, relationships, and urban life for the New York Times. However, in this brilliant, fierce, and funny memoir, Attenberg reveals the defining moments that pushed her to create a life – and voice – she could claim for herself.
The thing is, Attenberg isn’t necessarily telling us something new. For centuries writers have written love stories to their craft the same way filmmakers create movies about filmmaking. But there is something profound in the mundane and intense reflections Attenberg hoists on her environments.
Attenberg’s entire fifty-one years are fair game. Each chapter has a major theme, but she peppers memories from childhood, book tours, and old apartment buildings throughout. She reflects on her relationship with her parents, now happy and retired in sunny Florida; her writer friendships; her past lovers; and even her relationship with anxiety and wraps it all up into vignettes that allow her (and us) to see the happenstance of her life. This realization is a turning point for her and her writing.
Throughout the first third of the book, we see how her mother (who grew up motherless) influenced her upbringing and the beautiful ways in which Attenberg finds traces of her grandmother in her writing and her wildly curly hair. Attenberg elegantly portrays the complex relationships we foster throughout our lives and shows us ways we can use those connections to cultivate our own creativity. We are merely layers built upon layers, after all.
This is such a great book to read during the early part of the year as we spend time setting goals and leaning into our own life lessons. Attenberg’s writing is witty and profound, she creates lists to build upon the mundaneness of life while simultaneously expounding on her own evolution. I Came All This Way to Meet You explores themes of friendship, independence, class, and drive. It is at its heart, the story of finding one’s path home, and home is different for all of us.
Attenberg writes, “I walk through my home, I contemplate my space. Here, for now, and for a long time to come. And I take this moment to be grateful for what I have. A roof, a notebook, a full cupboard, and a bed above ground.” This collection is an examination of art and individuality and will resonate with readers who are willing to listen to their own creativity.
