It was a great JOY to talk to Lucienne S. Bloch’ about WHITLING IN THE DARK: Personal Essays.
Essays are a very special type of writing. The best can take you down paths that even a great novel can’t do. There is a freshness to essays. They are written in the moment. When someone has something on their minds and needs to get it down on paper. Reading Michel de Montaigne’s essays today are an example. You start seeing things through his eyes and wonder where else his mind will take you.
Well, Lucienne takes us into the heart of New York City. The vibrant world on the Upper West Side of New York City. The daughter of refugees from Hitler’s Europe, she grew up there in the 1950s. Her memories of her parents, particularly her mother’s longing for her former home in Vienna, play an important role in her life.
Lucienne S. Bloch is an award-winning former columnist for the New York Times. Her essays come from that universal need to connect with people. To share lessons learned and to look into the depth of human emotions helps both the reader and the essayist. One of the most touching things she shares is what it was like deal with a loved suffering from Alzheimer’s.
One of my favorite chapters is called: 365 New Words a Year. Like me, Lucienne is a lover of words.
For all you writers out there—get this book! You can learn a great deal about writing and about life from a talent author who has mastered the essay.
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