Kisner puts herself into her essays in ways that make me glad she is willing to share how she has come to the thoughts she writes about. ( )

Recommended by Julie

Thin Places: Essays from In Between from Jordan Kisner is that rare collection where each essay makes an impact. While all collections are, by nature of being collections of separate entities, uneven this one is as as minimally uneven as any I have read in quite some time.

I like essays, I read them a lot, whether in collections such as this or in various publications physical or virtual. I try to vary my expectations to suit what I am reading. Some are very instructive but don't necessarily make a big personal impact. Some touch me because of some commonality but after some time they fade away (though I often revisit these). This collection touched me emotionally and intellectually, made me try to understand her and what she experienced, understand those she wrote about, and most importantly try to better understand myself based on those new insights.

Perhaps the greatest gift this book offers is the gift of a new or renewed type of perspective. Many of the experiences will be both unknown to you while also seeming so familiar. You will likely, as I did, think about times in my past that might be roughly comparable, where those "thin places" are briefly exposed. Then it made me want to approach the future with a similar perspective, alert to the nuance of what is happening around me. Even more important, I think, is being more understanding in this new perspective. Of other people, of other ways of seeing and being in this world, and of what I might both gain and offer through this openness to those special "thin places." Whether they be evident in the moment or only through hindsight.

I highly recommend this to any reader who likes to think about life, about what it means and how it means. Even if you don't usually read essays I think you will be pleasantly surprised by how these may speak to you.

Reviewed from a copy made available by the publisher via NetGalley. ( )