Sam's Reviews > Silences

Wonderful document preserving authors and words that are always at risk of falling into cultural oblivion. Somewhat depressing to read of women’s (and men’s sometimes) lives and dreams thwarted, of the desire to write and the millions of walls it inevitably runs into. Somewhat heartening to read of all the striving in spite of the thwarting, and to read more works from the nineteenth century. Wish there was more attention paid to marginalized communities other than mostly white women, though I know that chronology is full of even more silences so who knows what could be recovered now. Like Popova’s “Figuring,” this book stokes the flame curiosity and moves the reader to think about all the stories and people that are passed over for mainstream, normative narratives.