num_pages: 320
description: In her memoir You Could Make This Place Beautiful poet Maggie Smith explores the disintegration of her marriage and her renewed commitment to herself in lyrical vignettes that shine hard and clear as jewels. The book begins with one womans personal particular heartbreak but its circles widen into a reckoning with contemporary womanhood traditional gender roles and the power dynamics that persist even in many progressive homes. With the spirit of self-inquiry and empathy shes known for Smith interweaves snapshots of a life with meditations on secrets anger forgiveness and narrative itself. The power of these pieces is cumulative: page after page they build into a larger interrogation of family work and patriarchy.You Could Make This Place Beautiful like the work of Deborah Levy Rachel Cusk and Gina Frangello is an unflinching look at what it means to live and write our own lives. It is a story about a mothers fierce and constant love for her children and a womans love and regard for herself. Above all this memoir is an argument for possibility. With a poets attention to language and an innovative approach to the genre Smith reveals how in the aftermath of loss we can discover our power and make something new. Something beautiful.
language: English
title: You Could Make This Place Beautiful: A Memoir
publisher: Atria/One Signal Publishers