From One Girl Child to Another
According to Martin Amis, "fiction is the only way to redeem the formlessness of life." Without story my own life narrative would be rather bleak. I need fiction, stories, lies even to move forward. When I come across fiction so powerful it blows me away I’ll want to get on Facebook or run up to the rooftops and scream: READ THIS BOOK! I’m also lucky in that I have a good friend who reads and absorbs fiction like it ain’t no fiction, just like me. We are able to talk book. A language of intuition, that automatically assumes that most pain can be assuaged or distracted by an enthralling fable. I think this is how mankind has been able to continue in the face of wooly mammoths, armies of invaders, revolution, stock market crashes, hurricanes, job loss—all the marquee stuff that stops us cold. We can pick up the flag and go on if only we can carry a really good story around inside of us. Tammy read Girl Child by Tupelo Hassman and had a literal literary reac...