Staring Contest: Essays about Eyes

by Joshua James Amberson

As a child, Joshua James Amberson was diagnosed with pseudoxanthoma elasticum, a rare genetic condition that may eventually lead to sightlessness. “In my own mild way,” his book opens, “I like to obsess,” and what follows is a relentlessly curious series of detours through oft-ignored aspects of vision and vision loss. Deftly weaving together such disparate subjects as Bette Davis’s career, the daily challenges of eye contact, and his own decade-long saga of periodic eye injections, Amberson digs deeply into the physical and existential consequences of living with such uncertainty. Staring Contest is wise, generous, and—given the subject matter—surprisingly funny.

Genres: Essays

224 pages, Paperback

Published May 16, 2023

Reviews

[Kevin · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is an amazing collection of essays about something most people take for granted: eyes and how we see the world. Amberson, who is low-key one of the finest writers we have in the Pacific Northwest, lives with a rare genetic condition that threatens his current and future days of seeing. The range of his topics (from pirates and Mister Magoo to boxing match stare-downs and eye violence in movies) is amazing and well-researched. The way he writes from his research and his own personal experiences is so caring and generous, it really feels like you're with one of your best friends throughout the whole book. This might be my favorite book in the "health memoir" field. Even if you don't think you're interested in blindness and the strange world of eyeballs, it's a moving, wise, occasionally funny, fascinating, and revealing book that everyone should read.

[willa · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.5. learned and related and thought a lot. didn't expect to confront my relationship with taking up space as much as i was forced to throughout but i'm not mad about it. he also references a good claudia rankine line for all my core 1 baddies

[Lauren · Rating 5 out of 5]

Such a stunning collection of essays from Amberson! Thoughtful and thought-provoking. I loved it!

[Anca · Rating 5 out of 5]

As a young child, Joshua James Amberson purposefully blurred his vision. He believed haziness suggested the otherworldly; it provided an escape from reality, such as the realities of growing up working class in rural Washington. Issues of class recur throughout his multifaceted collection Staring Contest: Essays about Eyes, as the adult Amberson, underemployed and uninsured, faces the necessity of expensive and unpleasant treatments to prevent irreversible vision loss.

My review in the Chicago Reader: https://chicagoreader.com/arts-cultur...

[Ankit · Rating 5 out of 5]

When we entrench ourselves in something that is whole, we become more believable. Imagine being with the person that made you feel that way. Do you imagine a partner, a parent, a child, a friend, a stranger? Or maybe just someone who sees you for who you are. Imagine,.. being with that being person on the beach... No not a partner, or someone that you don't truly care about, but someone you see who inspires you. That was the raw experience of meeting Joshua. In the realm of understanding human experience, someone who didn't give a fuck about what I thought was right but was just honest with me. Someone who listened to my most intimate thoughts and realized it was the experience that broadened both of our experiences beyond just what was in front of us. And that takes great insight and understanding of.what it is to be in a writer's spirit. To explore blindness and realize it was not death but the start of what you could see. I listened and read each page for what it was, reminiscing on the follies, foes, and forensics of blindness.
I was immersed and could not possibly see what I needed to do without this. A guide, a muse, something that felt prophetic.

He knew what I needed to do next, regardless of cohesion or clarity. More so respecting lines and boxes, than fragments and ideas. I wanted to see life thru a blind person, despite how schizophrenic it may seem.

[Danny Parr · Rating 5 out of 5]

Amberson brings such vulnerability and care to his essays on eyes. We are brought into his literal and metaphorical worldview as he reflects on his sight, health, and fragility. He questions why we cry, stare, and look away. We hear from blind writers and artists about how they see the world and make meaning of things. When talking about the hate and misinformation on the internet, Amberson worries we are in “a time without nuance, without empathy”. I think this book is one step in the nuanced, empathetic direction and I highly recommend it.

[Timothy Day · Rating 5 out of 5]

Like staying up all night talking with one of your most thoughtful friends, winding through various sub-topics with honesty, open-ended insight, and great empathy for humanness and the many ways eyes interact with it. As I find is the typical result of reading Amberson, you put this book down feeling a renewed connection to the world.

[Michelle Cruz · Rating 5 out of 5]

A very interesting way to think about everyday things that we usually don’t notice - the different ideas about the eyes, eyesight in general, and the sense of sight. I really enjoyed how each chapter is so different, going between history and medical science, as well as more personal experience, creative writings.

[Jason Arias · Rating 5 out of 5]

These concise, entertaining, vulnerable, and engaging essays collectively read like a beautiful memoir complete with story arc and a very satisfying ending. Of course, each essay has its own arc and conclusion, its own focused attention on a certain cultural reference or medical elucidation or obsessive quirk, and in this way the story never gets stale, but effectively adds layer after layer to the whole until Amberson has transformed a collection of eye-related essays into an impressive topographical map of the human condition and the human spirit.

[Curt · Rating 5 out of 5]

Superb collection of essays - all relating to sight and eyes from many perspectives. From personal experiences with eye issues to 'Bette Davis Eyes' and much more.