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Summary: Both Transcendental and Funny, An Eloquent Witness
Review: Angela the Upside-Down Girl is a revelation. Emily Hiestand is one of Robert Frost's true poets, "one upon whom nothing is lost." As she trains an eye of the rarest perception on the world we thought we knew, we discover the heart of light within ordinary and not-so-ordinary things. I marvel at her scope: her Weltyesque Aunt Nan Dean; her eloquent witness to the power of faith and community at Union Baptist Church; her love affair with automotive neon, which manages (as Emerson never could) to be both transcendental and funny; and, of course, there's Angela, whose gravity-defying grace can be seen as a figure for the whole book. But perhaps most engaging of all is the voice of our guide--Hiestand herself--the unifying principle through the book's many travels, wise, witty, shimmering in its clarity, a wonderful companion.
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Summary: A letter from an old friend
Review: I knew Emily for a very short time when I lived in Boston. She and my sister were friends, along with a group of people whose lives centered around a triple decker on Wendell Street.A new book from Emily is like a long letter. I get to catch up on her life and comings and goings. I always feel sheepish about not staying in touch when I'm through with it. She writes such beautiful and thoughtful things, I think. I really need to write her back. Reading her prose is exactly like having a conversation with her. I can hear her light, sweet voice as if I'm at a reading, and can summon her laugh in my mind's ear too. It's impossible for me to separate my acquaintance with Emily from her work, but I will say I'm always astounded with her descriptions and way with words. She is at once erudite and approachable, and her work is always informed by both these things. Being a poet, Emily brings thoughtful cadence to her essays, and very often I will read them outloud to myself. For those of you who don't know Emily personally, you will after you read this book, and what's more, you'll want to know her better. You'll also learn that New England watersheds are not only interesting but epic in their own way, and that stories are told in the details. Thanks Emily. I'm doing quite well and think of you often.
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Summary: A letter from an old friend
Review: [An] enchanting new book of essays.... Many personal essayists today try to capture our interest by being confessional but run the risk of revealing, like clumsy strippers, what we'd really rather not see. Hiestand has taken the more unusual risk of writing about the quotidian, and produced a tour de force. "Oooouuuweee!" as her cousin Bill would say. What a good book this is. --Boston Sunday Globe Book Review Angela the Upside-Down Girl is about how to live creatively, see life through an artist's eye. With a subversive sense of humor and a wicked ability to pierce convention, [Hiestand] takes us on her journey to discover a meaningful sense of place in a chaotic world. Her place turns out to be North Cambridge, which she describes with the freshness and originality of Joyce in Dublin... Angela the Upside-Down Girl reveals Emily Hiestand's exceptional talents which include an artist's eye for color and form, a cu! ltural anthropologist's ability to get people to tell their stories, and a poet's facility to express what is felt but not seen. --Cambridge Chronicle Rich, revealing, and often hilarious... This book travels between only two places...but it travels so deeply into each place, both their pasts and their presents, that you come away from it feeling enlightened and enticed, and ready to hop on the next train heading north or south. --Hope Magazine ...and I say, also, "What a good book this is!" -Chuck Eisenhardt
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Summary: Reviewers loving Angela...what a surprise!
Review: [An] enchanting new book of essays.... Many personal essayists today try to capture our interest by being confessional but run the risk of revealing, like clumsy strippers, what we'd really rather not see. Hiestand has taken the more unusual risk of writing about the quotidian, and produced a tour de force. "Oooouuuweee!" as her cousin Bill would say. What a good book this is. --Boston Sunday Globe Book Review Angela the Upside-Down Girl is about how to live creatively, see life through an artist's eye. With a subversive sense of humor and a wicked ability to pierce convention, [Hiestand] takes us on her journey to discover a meaningful sense of place in a chaotic world. Her place turns out to be North Cambridge, which she describes with the freshness and originality of Joyce in Dublin... Angela the Upside-Down Girl reveals Emily Hiestand's exceptional talents which include an artist's eye for color and form, a cu! ltural anthropologist's ability to get people to tell their stories, and a poet's facility to express what is felt but not seen. --Cambridge Chronicle Rich, revealing, and often hilarious... This book travels between only two places...but it travels so deeply into each place, both their pasts and their presents, that you come away from it feeling enlightened and enticed, and ready to hop on the next train heading north or south. --Hope Magazine ...and I say, also, "What a good book this is!" -Chuck Eisenhardt
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