Day At The Beach, A : Recollections

Rating:
Summary: insight outta sight
Review: Wolff's genius lies in his insight, his distance. In these essays that find him in varied life-stages, early adulthood as a crime reporter and in Instanbul teaching and falling in love with nude dancers, to his recent years, Wolff time and again describes events he participated in with candor and humility.

He doesn't mind criticising himself, admitting a mistake. Or describing vulnerability. The title essay discusses a heart attack he had on a long family vacation. "Waterway"s most poignant moments involve the author assenting to being helped by his son to steer the family boat to New England when he realized he and his wife were unable to do it. He recounts an early morning suddenly not being able to tie a knot, and harrying his son on how his wife would have done things.

Wolff is exuberant and playful with language, sometimes to excess, but often in a way that is evocative and even economical. It's a great book about people, fears, frailties, and ways to experience and ponder these things.