Letter to a Stranger

Starred review from August 2, 2021
The power of brief encounters is illuminated in this moving collection from essayist and editor Kinder (Delaying the Real World). As Leslie Jamison writes in her foreword, a letter to a stranger is “an account of brushing up—just briefly—against the infinitude of another person,” and the 65 pieces that follow respond to Kinder’s call to write a “letter to the ones who haunt us.” In “To the Man I Believe Was Good,” Lauren Groff writes to an old man she met in Palermo, Italy, as a teenager, who bought her a drink when she had nowhere to stay, grappling with the true nature of his intentions. Monet Thomas describes in “To the Pharmacist on Futong West Street” her encounters with a brisk pharmacist in Beijing, whose presence grounded her when she felt lost, and Sarah Perry recounts in “To the Woman Who Walked Beside Me” the maternal love she felt from a stranger in New York City who saw to her safe return home. Though the prompt is the same, the premise never gets tired, with the globe-trotting writers covering the gamut from strangers who offered a sense of safety or a sense of chaos. Bright and hopeful, this anthology is sure to delight avid travelers.

August 15, 2021
Dozens of writers with something more to say to a person they never knew. As Leslie Jamison points out in the foreword, "we spend so much of our lives in the company of people we'll never know....How rarely we admit the strange, unannounced ways they lodge inside of us." Jamison was one of the first contributors to a column called "Letter to a Stranger," edited by Kinder for the online magazine she co-founded, Off Assignment. In this anthology, she collects the "most extraordinary" submissions. Many are quite brief, and none are very long, and the thematic sections allow them to bounce off each other in interesting ways. The first section, "Symmetry," includes both Lia Purpura and Michelle Tea reflecting on young strangers they felt a kinship with, one on a plane, the other in a tattoo parlor. In the "Chemistry" section, we read about various sorts of attractions that never came to fruition. Howard Axelrod: "I was twelve; this was nearly thirty years ago, I've never written about you, never spoken about you, not in the weeks afterward to the boys in my cabin, not in the years afterward." Readers will eagerly await the confidence Axelrod shares next. "Gratitude" includes characters ranging from the disappearing superhero doctor who saved Aria Beth Sloss' baby to "the Drunk Mr. Flunchy," a man "lanky as a Giacometti and more shabby than chic," whose gift to Gregory Pardlo was a physical threat. While many of the essays have an ephemeral quality, some will stick with even the most jaded of reader--e.g., Sophie Haigney's apology to the survivor of a horrible crime whom she tormented with questions in her role as "the media." Other contributors include Pico Iyer, Maggie Shipstead, Elizabeth Kolberg, Jacquelyn Mitchard, and Lucas Mann, with letters originating from all seven continents. Good stories from writers both popular and unknown, guaranteed to fill you with wanderlust.

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October 1, 2021
Wanting to share her own experience and learn about the experiences of others, Kinder invited more than 60 fellow writers to draft a letter to that one stranger who haunts them, that singular person met only once but never forgotten. The use of seven intriguingly titled thematic sections--""Symmetry,"" ""Mystery,"" ""Chemistry,"" ""Gratitude,"" Wonder,"" ""Remorse,"" and ""Farewell""--brings together similarly themed letters that benefit by sharing a focus. But this isn't meant to be a required reading approach; the letters can be read in any order, including a random selection, without losing their impact. While all are fairly brief, the tone and style reflect the range of contributors, from Lauren Groff to Vanessa Hua, Emmanuel Iduma to Pico Iyer. Perhaps one of the best features of this book is how the reader may discover a letter that evokes one response today and a new, different response on another day, making this a collection that can be read more than once and feel new each time. Readers looking for quiet contemplation as well as conversation starters will find equal satisfaction in these pages.

COPYRIGHT(2021) Booklist, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

Starred review from January 1, 2022

Kinder (Delaying the Real World), the editor of this sweet but often poignant collection, invited authors to write a letter to a stranger who impacted (or "haunted") them in some way. The resulting 65 mesmerizing essays are categorized under seven themes, including "Gratitude," "Mystery," "Remorse," and "Farewell." Kinder writes that "any nagging ghost makes for a glorious muse," as demonstrated by these letters set all over the globe (including Africa, Antarctica, Asia, Central America, Europe, and assorted cities around the United States), during varied moments in time. Contributors include Lauren Groff, Leslie Jamison, Elizabeth Kolbert, Jacquelyn Mitchard, Cutter Wood, and Rachel Yoder, whose letters describe memorable encounters with strangers that are sometimes charitable, comical, or romantic, and other times frightening or poignant. Several contributors describe impactful interactions with strangers, such as taxi drivers or shopkeepers, during childhood or early adulthood, often while they were traveling. Julia Glass writes a letter to the stranger who guided her around Florence, Italy, four decades ago. Other writers somberly describe family members who feel like strangers to them. VERDICT This highly recommended collection of letters would appeal to many types of readers, including individuals interested in creative writing, the epistolary form, or travel literature.--Erica Swenson Danowitz

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