3.24.2015

Griping

"Randall Jarrell once wrote that even in the Golden Age people were always griping about how everything looked yellow; all our hopes elude us."

- from Loitering

3.10.2015

Doubt and the Unknown

We are just starting out, but it's clear from the first few essays in Loitering that the book is fiercely sad, mercilessly - surgically - self-conscious, and  beautifully written. D'Ambrosio's writing is a weird mix of world-weary wisdom, clear-eyed observation, and basically just writing about a bunch of things that he doesn't know much about. And he admits as much right up front. He says he doesn't do research. He just writes from a place of doubt and uncertainty. He says he doesn't even Google because he "wouldn't want to gunk up the works with irritable facts and information..." But it's forceful stuff. As he says, these are essays, not articles.


"My uselessness appalls me."