{"id":441,"date":"2019-05-14T12:00:44","date_gmt":"2019-05-14T12:00:44","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/wordpress.lvc.edu\/wordpress\/greenblotter\/?p=441"},"modified":"2019-05-14T12:00:44","modified_gmt":"2019-05-14T12:00:44","slug":"review-of-ross-gays-book-of-delights","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wordpress.lvc.edu\/greenblotter\/2019\/05\/14\/review-of-ross-gays-book-of-delights\/","title":{"rendered":"Review of Ross Gay\u2019s Book of Delights"},"content":{"rendered":"
Review by Courtney Mengel<\/span><\/h5>\n

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Nonfiction | Essays. 288 pages. Algonquin Books of Chapel Hill: Chapel Hill, North Carolina, 2019. Hardcover $23.95. Available Here<\/a><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Although he is primarily known for his poetry, Ross Gay takes on the form of essays–or essayettes, as he calls them–to write about something delightful almost every day for a year.\u00a0 Gay starts this journey on his 42nd<\/sup> birthday, finishes on his 43rd<\/sup> birthday, and fills the gap with nearly one hundred entries. \u00a0At times, it appears obvious to the readers that he is a poet as there are many beautiful lines throughout this book, but overall, they feel playful, joyful, and friendly.\u00a0 These intensely personal, witty, and sometimes humorous glimpses are not only an introduction to Gay\u2019s life but also an invitation to notice the delights that surround us every day.<\/span><\/p>\n

These delightful entries are diverse but gradually dance around themes such as friends, family, the challenges of living in 21st<\/sup> century America as an African-American, and Gay\u2019s deep appreciation for nature. \u00a0Regardless of what Gay writes about, he is equally enthusiastic about the most mundane of subjects.\u00a0 Some of his entries include insects, specifically a praying mantis on a tabletop \u201cbouncing and swaying, like it\u2019s hearing a music I\u2019m not yet tuned to.\u201d Also featured are \u201cblack bumblebees\u201d and how they \u201cshimmy some, swirl their abdomens for good measure, and, exhaling, haul their furry bodies, gold-flecked, to the next bloom for more.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

In a laugh-out-loud essay, Gay discusses dreams.\u00a0 He finds it delightful to stare at the ceiling sometimes and take the time to recall some of the dreams he has had.\u00a0 While he does this, he remembers one particular dream where he had been having sex with his mother for two years.\u00a0 Gay writes: \u201cJust as you would if you just realized you had been fucking your mother for the past two years, I lost my goddamned shit.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Politically themed essays may not dominate the book, but when Gay chooses a target, he does so with care and makes sure to hit the bullseye.\u00a0 In one essay, Gay discusses Whitney Houston and his adamant belief that \u201cone of the objectives of popular culture, popular media, is to make blackness appear to be inextricable from suffering,\u201d something he thinks is \u201cclever as hell if your goal is obscuring the efforts, the systems, historical and ongoing, to ruin black people.\u201d\u00a0 And the delight? \u00a0Gay reminds his readers that they have been \u201creading a book of delights written by a black person.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Although it is not explicitly stated, Gay\u2019s book shows the human\u2019s need for self-care.\u00a0 We do not live every day with sunshine and happiness, and Gay does not shy away from life\u2019s hardships.\u00a0 In a couple of his essays, Gay writes about the tragic death of a family friend who was only twenty years old.\u00a0 This book acknowledges our humanity and helps both the writer and the reader seek room for delight even when considering dark, complex corners.\u00a0 In the prelude, Gay writes: \u201cIt didn\u2019t take me long to learn that the discipline or practice of writing these essays occasioned a kind of delight radar.\u00a0 Or maybe it was more like the development of a delight muscle.\u00a0 Something that implies that the more you study delight, the more delight there is to study.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Gay\u2019s Book of Delights<\/em> is a soft reminder to listen, take notice, and enjoy the little things; there\u2019s beauty in the details.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Review by Courtney Mengel Nonfiction | Essays. 288 pages. Algonquin Books of Chapel Hill: Chapel Hill, North Carolina, 2019. Hardcover $23.95. Available Here   Although he is primarily known for […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-441","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","clearfix"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.lvc.edu\/greenblotter\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/441","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.lvc.edu\/greenblotter\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.lvc.edu\/greenblotter\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.lvc.edu\/greenblotter\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.lvc.edu\/greenblotter\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=441"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.lvc.edu\/greenblotter\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/441\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.lvc.edu\/greenblotter\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=441"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.lvc.edu\/greenblotter\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=441"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.lvc.edu\/greenblotter\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=441"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}