What do you think?
Rate this book
The Least Cricket of Evening
In the tradition of the meditative essay, the writing of Robert Vivian begins with a mundane moment and, through the delicate workings of curiosity, contemplation, and inspiration, reveals unsuspected meaning.
In his second collection of essays Vivian finds his occasions in midwestern towns and European cities. He looks for—and sometimes stumbles upon—the spiritual significance of circumstances and places and those who inhabit them, from the Jewish dead in a long-neglected cemetery in Poland to a dog slaughtered on a highway fronting the Black Sea to gunshots ringing out in rural Michigan. Again and again Vivian probes what such phenomena suggest about the times we live in—and what they share with every time that ever was.
In his second collection of essays Vivian finds his occasions in midwestern towns and European cities. He looks for—and sometimes stumbles upon—the spiritual significance of circumstances and places and those who inhabit them, from the Jewish dead in a long-neglected cemetery in Poland to a dog slaughtered on a highway fronting the Black Sea to gunshots ringing out in rural Michigan. Again and again Vivian probes what such phenomena suggest about the times we live in—and what they share with every time that ever was.
- GenresEssaysNonfiction
208 pages, Paperback
First published November 1, 2011
3 people are currently reading
38 people want to read
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews
February 10, 2012
This is the most beautiful book I've read in a long time. In these meditative essays author Robert Vivian trains an unflinching yet compassionate eye on disturbing instances (a teammate's suicide, a neighbor losing his home in a fire, the sadness invoked by clearing weeds in a Jewish cemetery in Poland) to find gorgeous moments of inspiration and hope. It's the type of book you can read again and again and each time find a new point of life-affirming insight and wisdom.
February 2, 2014
The back flap states, “In the tradition of meditative essay, the writing… begins with the mundane moment and, through the delicate working s of curiosity, contemplation, and inspiration, reveals unsuspected meaning.” This is the perfect synopsis, one I can’t really improve upon. There are about 25 short, 6-8 page reflections, covering such topics as hearing train whistles, observing teeth, greeting a beggar, remembering a baseball teammate, and constant observations – of people, sounds, actions. The writing is very dense and packed with metaphor creativity, extremely personal and explorative, and always takes the reader through the path of simple observation to a peek at the absolute and infinite. I found each one of these pieces deep and profound, and they definitely make me feel like I need to regain some of that basic awe and witness-bearing attention I feel like I’ve lost as the pace of life has picked up; but I also had to space these out as I read them, as I definitely had to be in the mood for each, and I couldn’t really read more than two of these in a single sitting.
July 30, 2017
Yes Vivian can write poetically and fantastically about everything, and is marvelous at setting the stage for any aesthetic, no matter how small, but the essay collection began to fell formulaic about two thirds of the way through. Vivian starts describing a small thing he saw in the streets or from his car or throughout his life and extrapolates that into the same message about how much he cannot understand about our universe, how everything is sacred and inter-dimensional, how he sees the everyday in a new light now. Okay, I get it. Reading this was like trying to deepthroat a Chinese dragon every single essay. I loved it, but it needs work, or at least better structuring. Great sentences though, so many pieces of holy language.
May 31, 2016
A collection of brief lyric essays, which should be right up my alley. Some of these are beautiful. However, too often I wished they had more depth - many of these use vague language; some of the "meditations" are just stereotypes of people the narrator observes in passing. The more inwardly-focused essays tend to follow the pattern of "I saw one thing, it reminded me of another thing, I had lots of feelings, and I don't know why and never will." I feel like the question of "why do I have these feelings/why is this meaningful to me" should be the starting point of an essay, not something you just give up on at the outset.
December 4, 2011
Vivian's writing electrified me. He can write/talk about anything and his lyric take on anything is mesmerizing; at least for me; i find it's morning; i'm thatched headed; in a rush, but had to stop; i have profound interest and respect for this writer; it's a wow, and i just discovered him accidentally.
May 15, 2013
His second book of essays--just as poetic and beautiful as the first. The man loves words and uses them with perfection.
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews