A raucous, stunningly candid, deliriously smart diary of two years in the life of the incomparable Heidi Julavits
Like many young people, Heidi Julavits kept a diary. Decades later she found her old diaries in a storage bin, and hoped to discover the early evidence of the person (and writer) she'd since become. Instead, "The actual diaries revealed me to possess the mind of a paranoid tax auditor." The entries are daily chronicles of anxieties about grades, looks, boys, and popularity. After reading the confessions of her past self, writes Julavits, "I want to good-naturedly laugh at this person. I want to but I can't. What she wanted then is scarcely different from what I want today."
Thus was born a desire to try again, to chronicle her daily life as a forty-something woman, wife, mother, and writer. The dazzling result isThe Folded Clock, in which the diary form becomes a meditation on time and self, youth and aging, betrayal and loyalty, friendship and romance, faith and fate, marriage and family, desire and death, gossip and secrets, art and ambition. Concealed beneath the minute obsession with "dailiness" are sharply observed moments of cultural criticism and emotionally driven philosophical queries. In keeping with the spirit of a diary, the tone is confessional, sometimes shockingly so, as the focus shifts from the woman she wants to be to the woman she may have become.
Julavits's spirited sense of humor about her foibles and misadventures, combined with her ceaseless intelligence and curiosity, explode the typically confessional diary form.The Folded Clock is as playful as it is brilliant, a tour de force by one of the most gifted prose stylists in American letters.
Industry Reviews
From the front page of the New York Times Book Review
"[E]xquisite.... This diary is a diary in the way that Thomas De Quincey's Confessions of an English Opium Eater is a confession, or that Daniel Defoe's A Journal of the Plague Year is a journal, or that Sei Shonagon's Pillow Book is a pillow book.... [W]itty, sly, critical, inventive and adventurous.... Her prose, like [E.B.] White's, is especially liquid, and her sentences are unimpeachable....
[A] work so artful that it appears to be without artifice. This diary is a record of the interior weather of an adept thinker. In it, the mundane is rendered extraordinary through the alchemy of effortless prose. It is a work in which a self is both lost and found, but above all made."
-- Eula Biss
"[S]cathingly funny.... [O]ddly exhilarating.... Julavits, as we know from her inventive novels...is a pro at spinning stories."
--Los Angeles Times
"[P]oignant.... [P]rofound."
--Boston Globe
"[A] cleverly crafted, thoughtfully entertaining series of meditations on personhood and culture.... complex and captivating...."
-- Lydia Millet, O Magazine
"[A]t once artful, concise, and forthcoming.... Like E.B. White or David Foster Wallace before her, Julavits might be ashamed of her little vanities and obsessions...but that doesn't prevent her from laying them bare without sugarcoating a thing.... [T]here's not a single uninteresting anecdote or scrap of flabby prose throughout."
-- Heather Havrilesky, Barnes & Noble
"[A] profound meditation on the passing of time."
--Entertainment Weekly
""[G]lorious."
--Minneapolis Star Tribune
"[F]resh.... [P]itch-perfect.... Julavits manages to steer her philosophizing clear of triteness or pretension."
--Bustle
"[I]ntricate and delicately worked.... The magic of The Folded Clock is the way it recaptures time, slowing and bending it, to create something new.... [A]n exceptional work of art."
--BookPage
[B]lur[s] the lines between contemplation and revelation, fact and fiction.... Julavits takes the novel approach of reinventing the form of the diary.... Julavits reveals a whole lot, in often-flawless prose, about motherhood, time, petty jealousies, grand debates, and the irresistible attractions of The Bachelorette.
-- New York Magazine's "8 Books You Need to Read This April"
One of Refinery29's "30 Books to Read This Spring"
"Reflections on being and becoming... Some entries are slyly funny, gossipy and irreverent; others, quietly intimate... An inventive, beautifully crafted memoir, wise and insightful."
-- Kirkus Reviews (Starred)
"Display[s] both charm and stark honesty... The diary angle makes for a clever hook, but masks what this really is--a compelling collection of intimate, untitled personal essays that reveal one woman's ever-evolving soul."
-- Publishers Weekly
"What can I tell you about reading Heidi Julavits' diary? I almost missed my subway stop because I got so engrossed by her description of waiting at a subway stop. These meditations shimmer like creatures, always feeling for the next surprise. They are ruthlessly attentive to particulars but always sniffing after bigger questions--the biggest--and I was utterly compelled by the big-hearted engine of rigor and wonder that drives them: her live electric mind."
-- Leslie Jamison, author of The Empathy Exams
"The Folded Clock is a joy to read. It's a treasure house of revealing stories, and a thought-provoking illustration of the way that everyday encounters--with weather, landscapes, knick knacks and civilians--provoke kaleidoscopic and dramatic memories to unfold within us. They illustrate the way the past connects to and colors the present within all our lives. Heidi's great empathy for all she encounters--whether inanimate objects like old houses, antique beds and abandoned Rolodexes--or animate ones such as neighbors, dinner guests and lovers--and her keen intelligence and wild imagination turn a 'normal' life into an extraordinary one, full of drama, mystery, fierce affections, illicit love affairs, terrible and wonderful secrets. Heidi's reflections on female desire and friendship are gripping. This is a book worth reading and re-reading."
-- Rebecca Curtis, author of Twenty Grand and Other Tales of Love & Money From the front page of the "New York Times Book Review"
[E]xquisite.... This diary is a diary in the way that Thomas De Quincey s "Confessions of an English Opium Eater "is a confession, or that Daniel Defoe s" A Journal of the Plague Year "is a journal, or that Sei Shonagon s "Pillow Book "is a pillow book.... [W]itty, sly, critical, inventive and adventurous.... Her prose, like [E.B.] White s, is especially liquid, and her sentences are unimpeachable....
""[A] work so artful that it appears to be without artifice. This diary is a record of the interior weather of an adept thinker. In it, the mundane is rendered extraordinary through the alchemy of effortless prose. It is a work in which a self is both lost and found, but above all made.
Eula Biss
[S]cathingly funny.... [O]ddly exhilarating.... Julavits, as we know from her inventive novels...is a pro at spinning stories.
" Los Angeles Times
"
[P]oignant.... [P]rofound.
" Boston Globe
"
"[A] cleverly crafted, thoughtfully entertaining series ofmeditations on personhood and culture.... complex and captivating...."
Lydia Millet, "O Magazine
"
"[A]t once artful, concise, and forthcoming.... Like E.B. White or David Foster Wallace before her, Julavits might be ashamed of her little vanities and obsessions...but that doesn't prevent her from laying them bare without sugarcoating a thing.... [T]here's not a single uninteresting anecdote or scrap of flabby prose throughout."
Heather Havrilesky, Barnes & Noble
"[A] profound meditation on the passing of time."
"Entertainment Weekly"
" [G]lorious.
"Minneapolis Star Tribune
"
[F]resh.... [P]itch-perfect.... Julavits manages to steer her philosophizing clear of triteness or pretension. " "
" Bustle
"
[I]ntricate and delicately worked.... The magic of "The Folded Clock "is the way it recaptures time, slowing and bending it, to create something new.... [A]n exceptional work of art.
" BookPage "
[B]lur[s] the lines between contemplation and revelation, fact and fiction.... Julavits takes the novel approach of reinventing the form of the diary.... Julavits reveals a whole lot, in often-flawless prose, about motherhood, time, petty jealousies, grand debates, and the irresistible attractions of"The Bachelorette."
"New York Magazine" s 8 Books You Need to Read This April
One of Refinery29's "30 Books to ReadThis Spring"
Reflections on being and becoming Some entries are slyly funny, gossipy and irreverent; others, quietly intimate An inventive, beautifully crafted memoir, wise and insightful.
"Kirkus Reviews "(Starred)
"Display[s] both charm and stark honesty... The diary angle makes for a clever hook, but masks what this really is a compelling collection of intimate, untitled personal essays that reveal one woman's ever-evolving soul."
" Publishers Weekly"
"What can I tell you about reading Heidi Julavits diary? I almost missed my subway stop because I got so engrossed by her description of waiting at a subway stop. These meditations shimmer like creatures, always feeling for the next surprise. They are ruthlessly attentive to particulars but always sniffing after bigger questions the biggest and I was utterly compelled by the big-hearted engine of rigor and wonder that drives them: her live electric mind."
Leslie Jamison, author of "The Empathy Exams"
"The Folded Clock" is a joy to read. It s a treasure house of revealing stories, and a thought-provoking illustration of the way that everyday encounters with weather, landscapes, knick knacks and civilians provoke kaleidoscopic and dramatic memories to unfold within us. They illustrate the way the past connects to and colors the present within all our lives. Heidi's great empathy for all she encounters whether inanimate objects like old houses, antique beds and abandoned Rolodexes or animate ones such as neighbors, dinner guests and lovers and her keen intelligence and wild imagination turn a 'normal' life into an extraordinary one, full of drama, mystery, fierce affections, illicit love affairs, terrible and wonderful secrets. Heidi s reflections on female desire and friendship are gripping.This is a book worth reading and re-reading.
Rebecca Curtis, author of "Twenty Grand and Other Tales of Love & Money"" ""The Folded Clock" is a joy to read. It's a treasure house of revealing stories, and a thought-provoking illustration of the way that everyday encounters--with weather, landscapes, knick knacks and civilians--provoke kaleidoscopic and dramatic memories to unfold within us. They illustrate the way the past connects to and colors the present within all our lives. Heidi's great empathy for all she encounters--whether inanimate objects like old houses, antique beds and abandoned Rolodexes--or animate ones such as neighbors, dinner guests and lovers--and her keen intelligence and wild imagination turn a 'normal' life into an extraordinary one, full of drama, mystery, fierce affections, illicit love affairs, terrible and wonderful secrets. Heidi's reflections on female desire and friendship are gripping. This is a book worth reading and re-reading."
-- Rebecca Curtis, author of "Twenty Grand and Other Tales of Love & Money"
"What can I tell you about reading Heidi Julavits' diary? I almost missed my subway stop because I got so engrossed by her description of waiting at a subway stop. These meditations shimmer like creatures, always feeling for the next surprise. They are ruthlessly attentive to particulars but always sniffing after bigger questions--the biggest--and I was utterly compelled by the big-hearted engine of rigor and wonder that drives them: her live electric mind."
-- Leslie Jamison, author of "The Empathy Exams"
"Reflections on being and becoming... Some entries are slyly funny, gossipy and irreverent; others, quietly intimate... An inventive, beautifully crafted memoir, wise and insightful."
-- "Kirkus Reviews "(Starred)
"Display[s] both charm and stark honesty... The diary angle makes for a clever hook, but masks what this really is--a compelling collection of intimate, untitled personal essays that reveal one woman's ever-evolving soul."
"-- Publishers Weekly" "What can I tell you about reading Heidi Julavits' diary? I almost missed my subway stop because I got so engrossed by her description of waiting at a subway stop. These meditations shimmer like creatures, always feeling for the next surprise. They are ruthlessly attentive to particulars but always sniffing after bigger questions--the biggest--and I was utterly compelled by the big-hearted engine of rigor and wonder that drives them: her live electric mind."
- Leslie Jamison, author of "The Empathy Exams"
"Reflections on being and becoming... Some entries are slyly funny, gossipy and irreverent; others, quietly intimate... An inventive, beautifully crafted memoir, wise and insightful."
- "Kirkus Reviews "(Starred)
"Display[s] both charm and stark honesty... The diary angle makes for a clever hook, but masks what this really is--a compelling collection of intimate, untitled personal essays that reveal one woman's ever-evolving soul."
"- Publishers Weekly" "Reflections on being and becoming... Some entries are slyly funny, gossipy and irreverent; others, quietly intimate... An inventive, beautifully crafted memoir, wise and insightful."
-"Kirkus Reviews "(Starred)
