Description
Book Synopsis2021 Clara Johnson Award from Jane''s Stories Press Foundation
2020 Gold Winner for Autobiography & Memoir in the Foreword INDIES
Many are haunted and obsessed by their own eventual deaths, but perhaps no one as much as Sue William Silverman. This thematically linked collection of essays charts Silverman’s attempt to confront her fears of that ultimate unknown. Her dread was fomented in part by a sexual assault, hidden for years, that led to an awareness that death and sex are in some ways inextricable, an everyday reality many women know too well.
Through gallows humor, vivid realism, and fantastical speculation, How to Survive Death and Other Inconveniences explores this fear of death and the author’s desire to survive it. From cruising New Jersey’s industry-blighted landscape in a gold Plymouth to visiting the emergency room for maladies both real and imagined to suffering the stifling strictness of an intractable piano te
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"Because of the distinctive subject matter and Silverman’s vast writing talents, How to Survive Death and Other Inconveniences will appeal to new and experienced readers alike; notably, it will also draw teachers of creative writing, who will cherish it for the many essays that can be taught as models of braided and segmented forms."—Jody Keisner, Hippocampus Magazine
"Honoring subconscious logic, How to Survive Death and Other Inconveniences makes the gambit that the mysteries of the self are both keys to understanding and uncertainties to be celebrated. We become who we are without being fully conscious of our choices—probing those choices won’t give us easy answers, but the discoveries along the way will be illuminating and well worth the necessary befuddlements."—Elizabeth Kadetsky, Literary Hub
"What do we do with those memories that carry with them the ability to sink us? According to Silverman, in order to survive and grow, we have to collect them, transform them, and let them transform us."—Chanel Dubofsky, Lilith
"Silverman undertakes the questions some of us are too afraid to ask, and we find ourselves rooting for her, flying down Route 17, because in doing so we are also rooting for ourselves."—Rachel Rueckert, Columbia Journal
“A joyously unconventional memoir written at least in part as a hedge against mortality. It will shake loose memories, invite you to ponder, and, maybe best of all, make you laugh. This is a marvelously written, imaginative, and seriously funny book.”—Abigail Thomas, New York Times best-selling author of What Comes Next and How to Like It
“With true originality and wit, Silverman takes readers on a wild ride through time, memory, pleasure, and trauma. What remains is a deeply human portrait of one woman’s resilience and the power of her spirit. I couldn’t put it down.”—Christina Haag, New York Times best-selling author of Come to the Edge: A Love Story
“Though a book about death should be morbid and depressing, Silverman takes an unusual approach, packing both humor and wit into more than a dozen entertaining essays that may offer comfort to those dealing with death anxiety.”—Bitch Media
“The book’s title may suggest this is a morbid book; yet, Silverman in her own clever way leans towards tongue-in-cheek, mixing pop culture, literature, and history with her stories and, of course, her unending quest to survive.”—Brevity: A Journal of Concise Literary Nonfiction
Table of Contents
Author’s Note
Ultima Thule
Fate 1
Clotho
spins the thread of life
The Eternal Reign of Miss Route 17
13 Ways of Surviving New Jersey
Miss Route 17 Refuses to Grow Old
The Three Fates: How Much Is the Moon Worth?
The Remarkable Death-Defying Exploits of Miss Route 17
Until My Number Comes Up
Requiem for a Qwertyist
My Death in the Family
The Three Fates: Drawing the Shades
A Member of the Wedding
Fate 2
Lachesis
measures the thread of life to determine how long you live
The Sick Hypochondriac
The Three Fates: On Tedium
The Safe Side
My Life as a Thanatologist
The Janet Leigh Variations
The Summer of Hate and Death
Here Be Human Dragons
Miss Route 17’s Near-Death Experience under the Boardwalk at the New Jersey Shore
Sigilisms of Miss Route 17’s Many Hidden Talents
Death Comes for the Poet
Flirting with the Butcher
The Three Fates and the Barefoot Angels
Fate 3
Atropos
cuts the thread of life with a pair of shears to decide how someone dies
At the Terminal Gate
Miss Route 17’s Own Graceland
Memorabilia: My Guardian Devils and the Phantom of the Opera Gloves
The Three Fates: When You Go
Of Chrysanthemums, Tupperware, Cremated Remains, and FedEx-ing to the Great Beyond
Miss Route 17’s Blue Period
The Three Fates: Filling in the Blanks
On the Reliance of Verbs to Survive Death
The Queen of Panmnesia
Acknowledgments
Notes
