The Secret Life of Objects eBook Dawn Raffel Sean Evers
Download As PDF : The Secret Life of Objects eBook Dawn Raffel Sean Evers 
Selected by O, The Oprah Magazine as a "Best 2012 Memoirs" & "Best Beach Reads 2012" & "10 Titles To Pick Up Now" & "Best First Lines". With illustrations by the author's 14-year-old son, Sean Evers. A Wall Street Journal, , and Barnes & Noble Bestseller.
"Her gift for capturing the nugget of a relationship in a single backward glance works beautifully in this illustrated memoir."
– The Chicago Tribune
"The Secret Life of Objects is a lean, brilliant, playful memoir.”
–The San Francisco Chronicle
"You may never look at that lamp the same way again after reading this evocative memoir..."
O, The Oprah Magazine
"Her memoir reflects on everyday objects such as a cup, a ring.... From these memories comes a whole life story."
Reader's Digest
"A unique, evocative memoir...written with all the wild bloom of imagination that fiction brings to the table."
The Quivering Pen
"This endearing memoir takes an assortment of otherwise ordinary possessions and turns it into a series of delicate, resonant stories."
– More magazine
“'Sometimes things shatter,' Dawn Raffel writes in The Secret Life of Objects. 'More often they just fade.' But in this evocative memoir, moments from the past do not fade—they breathe on the page, rendering a striking portrait of a woman through her connections to the people she’s loved, the places she been, what’s been lost, and what remains. In clear, beautiful prose, Raffel reveals the haunting qualities of the objects we gather, as well as the sustaining and elusive nature of memory itself."
– Samuel Ligon, author of Drift and Swerve Stories
"Dawn Raffel puts memories, people and secrets together like perfectly set gems in these shimmering stories, which are a delight to read. Every detail is exquisite, every character beautifully observed, and every object becomes sacred in her kind, capable hands. I savored every word.
– Priscilla Warner, author of Learning to Breathe – My Yearlong Quest to Bring Calm to My Life(less)
The Secret Life of Objects eBook Dawn Raffel Sean Evers
At its best, a memoir is cosmic cartography; it offers some vital sliver of the map of human experience. This slender, elegant collection does that with austere perfection in almost every chapter. The pairing of this structure with this premise is genius. It feels like a curio cabinet of tastefully arranged mementos, knickknacks and objects d'art, each of which connects to a moment in personal history, a beat of the heart. At the risk of sounding flip, it's like a Spoon River Anthology of tchotchkes.One particular passage I love details with heartrending brevity the death of Raffel's mother, who was an artist. "I packed up a lifetime's worth of paintings, drawings, and sculpture, divided them up among family, shipped home boxes and boxes marked "fragile." I took her glass collection, her jewelry, her papers, her photos, her shoes. On a shelf I found two matching vases--a big one and a little one, luminous blue. I wrapped the little one in my clothing and put it in my bag. I left the big one in the house."
For me, that passage brings home the greater takeaway (if one requires great takeaway beyond the pure pleasure of reading beautiful prose): an examination of why we keep what we keep (and why some things are marked "fragile") on our shelves, in our lives and woven into our souls. This book changed the way I walk past the small, unassuming objects in my own life. These things are not set dressing; each one is a tiny anchor for an important story. I won't forget that again.
This is a physically lovely book I'm glad to have on my shelf, but I look forward to buying the Kindle version, because that's where I keep the books I return to when I need a meditative moment as I wait for a flight, stand in line or struggle to sleep. It's a delight to discover a book I can revisit again and again, always finding some new insight, always learning something fresh about the craft of writing. A book that combines the charm of poetry and the power of story. This will be one of those books for me.
Also highly recommended: Raffel's novel Carrying the Body.
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The Secret Life of Objects eBook Dawn Raffel Sean Evers Reviews
I chanced upon this today as a deal and feel like it was a gift. I may even have to purchase the physical book. I had never heard of Dawn Raffel, or this acclaimed book, but after reading it in one sitting, I am a fan of both. A tribute to favorite objects and the loved ones evoked, this is an easy and pleasurable distraction that will leave you thinking about the stories your favorite things tell.
This a beautifully composed book, brilliant in its conception. A memoir different from most, able to reveal stories through objects owned, seen, touched and remembered. A mug, a painting, a glass angel, to name but a few, evoke not only where and how acquired but also the pathos, joy, humor and realizations that make up a life. With a deft and sure hand, Raffel depicts family members in ways that are magical. The writing is spare, unsentimental, almost poetic, I'd say, but always accessible. On finishing this deeply felt book, I could not help but revisit objects in my house and ponder their secret lives. An unforgettable book and a total pleasure to read.
I've been described more than once as a person who attaches to things. Heritage in my family is largely connect to objects passed down by generations. When I see an object I connect to the stories it might tell about the people of its past, the way it connects me to them. Or, to the stories it will tell about me and my life. I'm a sentimentalist; a material culturalist; an intuitional curator in training to be a professional curator. I very much related to this book.
In this series of short stories - a page, or no more than three - about the personal artifacts of Raffel's life, the meaning of objects unfolds; the roles objects fill in connecting us to our loved ones, to moments in our lives or theirs, and ultimately, the stories that objects tell about our lives within the stories we tell about objects. Simple, but profound.
This book is a sort of memoir/essay series. When I read a promo for the book in a women's magazine recently, I thought it was specifically about items that had belonged to her mother. After her mother died, she was going through her things. But, a few of the essays are about her mother's things, the rest are about other items in the author's life. I had expected the memories to be more poignant and emotional than they were. She chooses random things, some of which don't really hold that much meaning for her. A few of the essays are insightful, but most (to me) were not. It was a quick read, as each chapter was only a few pages long. Maybe I expected too much. I enjoyed the book, it was a relaxing read, but it didn't move me.
This is a quietly affecting, charming book, beautifully written. Raffel compiles meditations on various objects in her life and the stories behind them, which is an ingenious structure for a memoir (I'm going to use excerpts for teaching creative nonfiction writing). A mosaic or fragmented structure like this--composed of many short vignettes--could grow tiresome, but this book remains compelling because of Raffel's exquisite writing. Each vignette is both a stand-alone prose poem, yet they each add something to a larger family story, all undergirded by the appealing introspective sensibilty of the author. I enjoyed the author's reflective voice, the thinking she does about each object, a process which perhaps is what yielded pearls of wisdom about the "things" that ring true, and are poignant, that show that objects have meaning for us. I'm happy to have discovered this book, which had the best result to inspire me to think about my own objects and the stories they hold. One small wish I would loved to have seen the objects (photos)rather than drawings, which I liked, but they did not satisfy my curiosity. Highly recommend.
At its best, a memoir is cosmic cartography; it offers some vital sliver of the map of human experience. This slender, elegant collection does that with austere perfection in almost every chapter. The pairing of this structure with this premise is genius. It feels like a curio cabinet of tastefully arranged mementos, knickknacks and objects d'art, each of which connects to a moment in personal history, a beat of the heart. At the risk of sounding flip, it's like a Spoon River Anthology of tchotchkes.
One particular passage I love details with heartrending brevity the death of Raffel's mother, who was an artist. "I packed up a lifetime's worth of paintings, drawings, and sculpture, divided them up among family, shipped home boxes and boxes marked "fragile." I took her glass collection, her jewelry, her papers, her photos, her shoes. On a shelf I found two matching vases--a big one and a little one, luminous blue. I wrapped the little one in my clothing and put it in my bag. I left the big one in the house."
For me, that passage brings home the greater takeaway (if one requires great takeaway beyond the pure pleasure of reading beautiful prose) an examination of why we keep what we keep (and why some things are marked "fragile") on our shelves, in our lives and woven into our souls. This book changed the way I walk past the small, unassuming objects in my own life. These things are not set dressing; each one is a tiny anchor for an important story. I won't forget that again.
This is a physically lovely book I'm glad to have on my shelf, but I look forward to buying the version, because that's where I keep the books I return to when I need a meditative moment as I wait for a flight, stand in line or struggle to sleep. It's a delight to discover a book I can revisit again and again, always finding some new insight, always learning something fresh about the craft of writing. A book that combines the charm of poetry and the power of story. This will be one of those books for me.
Also highly recommended Raffel's novel Carrying the Body.
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