The Memoir-in-Essays

The Memoir-in-Essays

This article relates to Alligator Tears

Compared to a traditional memoir, a memoir-in-essays allows for a more thematic approach and a diversity of styles and formats. It generally prioritizes ideas and memorable scenes or vignettes, and its essays might be linked or discrete. The essays in Alligator Tears by Edgar Gomez appear in roughly chronological order, but a memoir-in-essays can break from convention by eschewing chronology. A looser timeline can be a way of acknowledging that life is usually not a clear trajectory from one phase to another; instead, it contains recurrences, contrasts, and connections. As Sarah Kasbeer wrote for The Rumpus in 2020, "Exploring a complex network of interactions sounds like the work of an essayist, whereas the projection of time is clearly the memoirist's domain." The memoir-in-essays can accomplish both. Below we highlight a few that exemplify their chosen themes.

Disability & Chronic Illness:

Places I've Taken My Body by Molly McCully Brown (2020)

Brown has severe cerebral palsy and uses a wheelchair. She travels to Bologna on a fellowship but finds the medieval city very challenging due to her limited mobility. Also a published poet, she writes about her twin's death, converting to Catholicism, historical policies of enforced sterilization, and the 200th anniversary of Frankenstein. Linking all of the pieces are her experiences of chronic pain and of others making uncharitable assumptions based on her physical disability.

Also recommended: Your Hearts, Your Scars by Adina Talve-Goodman, Floppy by Alyssa Graybeal, and A Certain Loneliness by Sandra Gail Lambert

Nature & Climate Justice:

World of Wonders by Aimee Nezhukumatathil (2020)

In 28 mini-essays, the poet and English professor honors unusual species, symbolically linking them to her past. For instance, growing up as a person of color in a predominantly white area, she tried to blend in, like a potoo or vampire squid. It felt easier to choose camouflage during high school rather than stand out like the peacock, her favorite bird. Through her species profiles, she ponders belonging and mixes nostalgia with grief over the natural wonders that have been lost.

Also recommended: No Country for Eight-Spot Butterflies by Julian Aguon, Braiding Sweetgrass by Robin Wall Kimmerer, and Dispersals by Jessica J. Lee

Religion & Sexuality:

I Can't Date Jesus by Michael Arceneaux (2018)

Arceneaux grew up gay in Houston and absorbed from an early age that his sexuality and religion were at odds. His mother was a devout Catholic and hoped he'd join the priesthood one day. A number of the essays are about his bad luck with dating. He also writes about moving to New York City and reconnecting with his father, an alcoholic who physically abused his mother. Politics, relationships, and Arceneaux's love of Beyoncé are recurring elements in these funny essays.

Also recommended: No Cure for Being Human by Kate Bowler, The Book of Queer Prophets edited by Ruth Hunt, and Traveling Mercies by Anne Lamott

Women's Lives & Feminism:

Girlhood by Melissa Febos (2021)

Febos's second autobiographical essay collection examines the expectations society places on women, starting in adolescence. Whether flirting with boys as a teenager, fending off a stalker in college, or working as a dominatrix, Febos was always conscious of the male gaze. Her interlocking essays also cover her early queer experiences, her former addiction to heroin, her relationship with her mother, and trips to France and Italy. Once hypercritical of her own body, she gradually learned to love and value it instead.

Also recommended: This Is the Story of a Happy Marriage by Ann Patchett, Men Explain Things to Me by Rebecca Solnit, and Still Life at Eighty by Abigail Thomas

Filed under Reading Lists

This article relates to Alligator Tears. It first ran in the February 26, 2025 issue of BookBrowse Recommends.

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