Thank you to W.W. Norton and Company for providing me with an advance copy of Beth Ann Fennelly's Heating & Cooling: 52 Micro-Memoirs, in exchange for an honest review.
PLOT- Heating & Cooling is Beth Ann Fennelly's collection of short memoirs, ranging from a few sentences to a few pages, each a snippet of Fennelly's life.
LIKE- I absolutely could not stop reading Heating & Cooling. Admittedly, it's a quick, short read (less than an hour), but I could've easily read four times the amount in a single sitting and still have been left wanting more. I love Fennelly's humor, her wry wit, and keen observations. The fact that it's memoir, makes it even more compelling.
I've written micro-fiction and I've read it in magazines, but this is the first time that I've seen it compiled in a book. It's a great format and one that I will seek out. Anyone out there reading this review have any recommendations for other authors working in micro-fiction that have compiled their writing into a book?
Each story is strong on its own, but a big part of the magic is the order in which Fennelly has listed her stories. She has not ordered them chronologically with regard to her life events, instead she has ordered them to pack a punch. Much like a album track list, Fennelly has ordered her stories to elicit emotion and create varying tones. The result is excellent pacing, making Heat & Cooling a compulsive page-turner.
DISLIKE- Nothing. I loved Heating & Cooling. Immediately after finishing it, I went on Amazon to purchase a few of Fennelly's poetry books. I needed more of her writing in my life.
RECOMMEND- Yes! Heating & Cooling is a unique memoir by a very talented writer. I'm so thrilled for this "new-to-me" author discovery.