Body
The skilled anthologist team of Fiffer and Fiffer covers the essentials. They began withHome(1995), moved toFamily(1996), and now focus on the body. The essays and memoirs gathered here are expectedly personal and yet unexpectedly and quite wonderfully expansive. Francine Prose cannot write of the nose without considering famous literary organs, such as Gogol's rogue schnozzle or the mighty proboscis of Cyrano de Bergerac. Rosario Ferrewrites with earthy candor about the butt, and Veronica Chambers reports on life lived in dreadlocks. Lynda Barry offers a startling tale about her cousin's lousy teeth and his curiosity about the teeth of Jesus. Esmeralda Santiago tells the story of her scars, Mona Simpson praises hands, Richard McCann writes about his liver transplant, and Thomas Lynch considers the womb, pregnancy, and the father's perspective on the question of choice and abortion rights. Thylias Moss, Chris Offutt, and Kyoto Mori also contribute fresh and magnetic musings to this provocative and top-tier anthology about the body as experienced from within and seen from without.Donna Seaman