Roxanne reviews I Came All This Way to Meet You: Writing Myself Home by Jami Attenburg.
If you’ve ever had a period of wanderlust, or perhaps had a wild streak, Jami Attenberg’s memoir I Came All This Way To Meet You: Writing Myself Home is the perfect selection.
Attenberg, approaching fifty, takes us through a good portion of her life via travels to Italy, Hong Kong and New York. Akin to Rachel Cusk, Attenberg uses her travel for guideposts to reflect on her wounds and victories. What results is a poignant, but no nonsense, assessment of freedom and her own evolutionary value system.
I adored learning of Italian and French Catacombs; as well as hearing of an ossuary that captured Attenberg’s fascination as she wrestled with her life and what is beyond the beyond. I also appreciated her life as a writer and her study of what that art means to her and the larger world. Attenberg displays extra love for various bookstores she lands in as both a speaker and a shopper, magnifying their importance as equal to that of the traditional historic sites.
Written both pre and during the pandemic, Attenberg finds the perfect sweet spot of acknowledging the socio-political milieu without harping on such travails. Her point being, life goes on and what really ends up mattering are deep friendships, a comfortable home base and great literature.
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