Approaching Eye Level

by Vivian Gornick

This collection of brave personal essays finds a quintessentially contemporary woman (urban, single, feminist) trying to observe herself and the world without sentiment, cynicism, or nostalgia. Whether walking along the streets of New York or teaching writing at a university, she is a woman exploring her need for conversation and connection - with men and women, colleagues and strangers. She recalls her stint as a waitress in the Catskills and a failed friendship with an older woman and mentor; she reconsiders her experiences in the feminist movement, while living alone, and in marriage. Turning her sharp eye on herself, Gornick struggles to see her part in things - how she has both welcomed and avoided contact, and how these attempts at connections have enlivened and, at times, defeated her. Unrelentingly honest, her essays remind us that we can come to know ourselves only by engaging fully with the world.