"Unfinished Business: Notes of a Chronic Re-Reader," by Vivian Gornick

The wonderful author, feminist, literary critic, and memoirist Vivian Gornick has a terrific new book out: “Unfinished Business: Notes of a Chronic Re-Reader” (Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2020). This is a small, short book that will appeal to most avid readers. I couldn’t resist it, not only because of the topic, but also because I know Gornick to be a compelling writer. Among her earlier books are the acclaimed, wonderful memoir “Fierce Attachments” (1987) and the more recent memoir, “The Odd Woman in the City” (2015), both of which I have read with pleasure, and the latter of which I posted about here on 10/15/15. Gornick writes with conviction and with an approachable, beguiling manner. In this new book, she writes about the joys of re-reading. As she is in her early 80s, she is able to write about reading certain books several times over the years, both rediscovering what she loves about them and often perceiving them quite differently each time, for better or for worse. Throughout, she weaves her experiences with these books into her other life experiences. Some books and topics that she focuses on here include D.H. Lawrence’s “Sons and Lovers”; Colette’s novels, especially “Cheri” and “The Last of Cheri”; Marguerite Duras’ “The Lover”; Jewish- American writing; the work of Natalia Ginzburg; and Thomas Hardy’s “Jude the Obscure.” Perhaps best of all, for me, was the chapter on the work of Elizabeth Bowen, of whom both Gornick and I are great admirers. (Note that I wrote quite recently – 1/25/20 --about Bowen’s book on “English Novelists.”) Gornick writes so well about the role of “receptivity,” in other words, whether or not one reads a novel at the right time, the time that one is ready to read it and connect to it. Most of all, though, I love this book because the author’s deep love of reading, thinking, and re-reading is so evident. I am a chronic re-reader myself (e.g., re-reading each of Jane Austen's novels many times, as well as the novels of Virginia Woolf, Edith Wharton, Barbara Pym, and E.M. Forster, among many others). Re-reading is truly celebrated in the 161 pages of "Unfinished Business," and I loved reading and celebrating along with the author!