The Best American Essays 2023

Name: The Best American Essays 2023
Brand: Harper Audio
Availability: InStock
Author: Vivian Gornick
ISBN: 9780063288874

Author: Vivian Gornick, Robert Atwan

Series: Best American

Narrator: Will Tulin, Marie Hoffman, Elena Rey, Elyse Dinh, Katharine Chin, Pun Pandhu, Ewan Chung, Isabella Star LaBlanc, Shaun Taylor-Corbett

Unabridged: 11 hr 41 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Publisher: HarperAudio

Published: 10/17/2023

Categories: Nonfiction, Literary Collections

Synopsis

In her introduction to this year’s The Best American Essays, guest editor Vivian Gornick states that her selections “contribute materially to the long and honorable history of the personal essay by way of the value they place on lived experience.” Provocative, daring, and honest at a time when many writers are deliberately silencing themselves in the face of authoritarian and populist censorship movements, the twenty-one essays collected here reflect their authors’ unapologetic observations of the world around them. From an inmate struggling to find purpose during his prison sentence to a doctor coping with the unpredictable nature of her patient, to a widow wishing for just a little more time with her late husband, these narratives—and the others featured in this anthology—celebrate the endurance of the human spirit.The Best American Essays 2023 includes Ciara Alfaro • Jillian Barnet • Sylvie Baumgartel • Eric Borsuk • Chris Dennis • Xujun Eberlein • Sandra Hager Eliason • George Estreich • Merrill Joan Gerber • Debra Gwartney • Edward Hoagland • Laura Kipnis • Phillip Lopate • Celeste Marcus • Sam Meekings • Sigrid Nunez • Kathryn Schulz • Anthony Siegel • Scott Spencer • Angelique Stevens • David Treuer

About Vivian Gornick

VIVIAN GORNICK is a writer and critic whose work has received two National Book Critics Circle Award nominations. Her works include the memoirs Fierce Attachments—ranked the best memoir of the last fifty years by the New York Times—The Odd Woman and the City, and Unfinished Business: Notes of a Chronic Re-reader, as well as the classic text on writing, The Situation and the Story.

About Robert Atwan

ROBERT ATWAN has been the series editor of The Best American Essays since its inception in 1986. He has edited numerous literary anthologies and written essays and reviews for periodicals nationwide.

Reviews

Goodreads review by Reading Cat on October 29, 2023

I think after the unmitigated disasters of the last few years, Atwan's choice of Gornick as an editor was a strategic decision to try to salvage the series in decline. And for the most part, he (and she) succeed. There's a lot to love in this book--"Care Credit" is about growing up poor and 'making......more

Goodreads review by Timons on February 26, 2024

I'll state my complaint about this volume right up front: it tolerates the use of past participles instead of the past tense of some verbs. (sprung instead of sprang) Some folks call this North American usage. I call it illiterate. The split in contributors this year seems to be 60/40 female to male.......more

Goodreads review by Josh on December 27, 2023

This was one of my favorite reads of the year. Some of the more notable essays from this collection were: * Any Kind of Learning - by Jillian Barnet * Bidders of the Din - by Eric Borsuk * Concision: A Sprawl - by George Estreich * Revelation at the Food Bank - by Merrill Joan Gerber * Eat Prey Love - by......more

Goodreads review by Erica on January 19, 2025

There are some very good essays here To me the standout is care credit by Angelique Stevens, which tells a personal story of poverty through the lens of dentistry in a way that feels deeply intimate but also places the author in the context of the archeological record. Other essays that stood out to......more

Goodreads review by Andrés on November 28, 2023

Really enjoyed this essay collection that I picked up in October while visiting Yale University. It made me want to read a lot more essays and get a New Yorker subscription! My favorite essays were: 1. Eric Borsuk’s Bidders of the Din (my top contender! Loved the concept of rebirth in prison) 2. Chris......more