Description
Book SynopsisTraces the remarkable life of a feminist poet through the items and images that have have defined her experiences
My Life in 100 Objects is a personal reflection on the events and moments that shaped the life and work of one extraordinary woman. With a masterful, poetic voice, Margaret Randall uses talismanic objects and photographs as launching points for her nonlinear narrative. Through each “object,” Randall uncovers another part of herself, starting in a museum in Amman, Jordan, and ending in the Latin American Studies Association in Boston. Interwoven throughout are her most precious relationships, her growth as an artist, and her brave, revolutionary spirit.
As Randall’s adventures often coincide with important moments in history, many of her objects provide a transcontinental glimpse into social upheavals and transitions. She shares memories from her years in Cuba (1969 to 1980) and Nicaragua (1980 to 1984), as well as briefer periods in North Vietnam (immediately preceding the end of the war in 1975), and Peru (during the government of Velasco Alvarado). In her introduction, Randall states, “objects and places have always been alive to me.” Her history too is alive, as much of a means to consider our own present as it is to
glimpse her vibrant past.
Trade ReviewMy Life in 100 Objects is a nonlinear inventory of the self by beat-expressionist-become-revolutionary poet Margaret Randall. Her sense of objecthood is elastic: the expected possessions, yes, writing accoutrements, but also places, photographs, books, art, monuments, artifacts. A medal, a fake passport, a court brief from when the INS tried to deport her. An underused treadmill. She puts it all out there and lets it all in. Even as they stretch all the way back to her childhood in the ’40s, or her young adulthood in the ’60s, her stories have never been more of the moment: who gets to come to this country, who gets to love whom, and every other hard-won freedom still at stake today. -- Garrett Caples, Editor, City Lights Spotlight
Randall’s hope was to show us ‘how the objects and places that move us breathe their life into ours.’ In this, she certainly succeeds. A heartwarming celebration of the author’s compelling life. * Kirkus Review *
