Dropped Threads 3: Beyond the Small Circle

Dropped Threads #3

by Marjorie Anderson

In the tradition of the bestselling Dropped Threads and Dropped Threads 2 comes this new collection of essays from well-known writers and new voices. Ever since the publication of the first two Dropped Threads books, readers and writers have longed for another installment — and here it is. For this collection, editor Marjorie Anderson took a new thematic path, searching out pieces that don’t necessarily focus on what women haven’t been told, but rather on what they have to tell. In Dropped Threads 3: Beyond the Small Circle, thirty-five women open up their own small circles of experience to others in ways that not only illuminate the lives of individual women but add more threads to the already-rich tapestry of our collective conversation.These essays focus on personal discoveries that, for various reasons, need to be the writers tell us about family secrets, sexuality, rebellion, crevices of deep joy or regret; about finding connections to nature, to animals, to a “tribe” to which one can belong; about embracing forgiveness, kindness, and new perspectives beyond the circle of individual sight. Barbara McLean tells us of the sister she never knew, and how recovering her story shed light on how grief can take so many different forms. June Callwood explores the continuity that flows between mothers and daughters, and the mysterious, chance happenings that form character. Frances Itani writes about how the voices of the women in her family – her aunts and grandmother relaying stories around the kitchen table – are as integral to her life as her own genetic code. Melanie Janzen sees connections between a Ugandan women’s collective and the neighbourhood women of her childhood, but has trouble finding a similar community of support in her own life today. And in all of the pieces, there is a powerful sense that the understanding that comes from writing and reading can enrich our lives beyond measure.As Marjorie Anderson writes in her foreword, we trust first-person narratives precisely because they give us an inside view into someone else’s world; here, as in the best of our personal conversations, there are “no assertions of absolute truth, no earth-shaking revelations or attempts to manipulate another’s belief, just individual voices making individual claims on the discovery of meaning.” With Dropped Threads 3: Beyond the Small Circle, Anderson has created a forum in which Canadian women can share their personal discoveries with honesty, insight and humour.Marjorie Anderson (foreword)Margaret AtwoodJune CallwoodTracey Ann CoveartLorna CrozierAndrea CurtisNorma DePledgeMaggie de VriesM.A.C. FarrantLiane FaulderNatalie FingerhutLorri Neilsen GlennMarie-Lynn HammondHarriet HartFrances ItaniMelanie D. JanzenGillian KerrChantal KreviazukSilken LaumannJodi LundgrenAnn-Marie MacDonald (introduction)C.B. MackintoshHeather MallickBarbara McLeanBarbara MitchellBernice MorganPatricia PearsonBeth PowningJudy RebickSusan RileyLauri SarkadiBarbara ScottJodi StoneCathy StonehouseJ. C. SzaszAritha van HerkJanice Williamson

Genres: Nonfiction, Essays, Canada, Anthologies

402 pages, Kindle Edition

First published January 1, 2006

Reviews

[Tanya · Rating 3 out of 5]

A lot of these stories are boring. The one about Larry is properly good.

[Jessica · Rating 5 out of 5]

The third installment of Dropped Threads is the first I have read. It boasts a long list of accomplished authors, teeming with writers I have never read, and a handful I have. These women, largely anonymous to me before reading their biographical descriptions in the back of the book, are equally relatable as they are mythical. Stories of motherhood, which is often considered a universal experience, is painted with many different brushes. Stories of family run the gamut, from murdered sisters to wrongly jailed uncles to estranged depressive mothers. There are stories of animals enabling a connection to Nature during times of oppressive solace and emotional desolation. Nearly all of these stories moved me in some way, bringing the hot needles of tears to my eyes, to silently weeping along with the catharsis of the writer's harrowing experience. This book is written by women, for women, though it is not exclusive. Instead, it sheds light on the nuanced realities that plague women -- the underrepresented sex -- in the real world. While these stories are true, and factual, they are stories untold. Often simple, only a few pages long, these stories express anecdotal evidence that women are complex and complete creatures, with or without husbands, houses, or children. I recommend this book to everyone who was ever born.

[Kat Hogan · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved the different perspectives that everyone brought to their short stories. But they all make childbirth downright horrifying.

[Lorraine · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was a nice collection of essays from Canadian writers. The different perspectives offered made for enjoyable and compelling reading.

[Rachel · Rating 3 out of 5]

“And never forget that little girl writing chalk lines along the sidewalk to jump into and over, an arc at the turn-around end. Pedestrians scuffed it. Rain came. Every night the girl slept hard, dreamed. And every morning she went out again with her chalk, writing herself into the landscape.” (p.37/Lorri Neilsen Glenn/Believe You Me)

“And she knew this because she was free to question privileged worlds, to see that which lies below the surface is often more real than that which lies above. And freedom, my boy, also means never getting bored. If you take anything from this maternal treatise, let it be this: boredom=death.” (p. 64/Natalie Fingerhut/In Praise Of Misfits)

“Why was this hidden from me? Why do worldly pressures crush vitality and force us all into nine-to-five ruts? When we could dance first thing in the morning, dance all day…” (p.80/Jodi Lundgren/Pitch: A Dancer’s Journal)

“When I was in my mid-forties, depression did its work, broke me down as rain batters a dead leaf, until I found qualities within myself never before acknowledged. I learned to listen, but also to speak. I learned to be quiet in a group of people and not feel I had said nothing. The many sides of my personality blended, and I learned to be one person, the same person, always.” (p.104/Beth Powning/Barefoot In The Snow)

“Lack of resistance, like singing to a pony, is not passivity but wisdom.” (p.106/Beth Powning/Barefoot In The Snow)

“The only armour possible is to love the work, to make the work its own reward.(p.205) I cherish this work because it is material, cloth of a sort that will eventually become a story, a tale both tender and parodic. There is no stronger compensation than to make of these frictions a fascinating fiction.” (p.207/Aritha Van Herk/Work And Its Dubious Delights)

“..I have been working on a theology which looks pretty simple: it is that kindness is as close to godliness as humans can ever get. There is a law of physics that states that the only thing absolutely true in the universe is the speed of light. But light bends, I believe, so maybe that isn’t exactly true either. I am unalterably convinced, however, of the truth that kindness is holiness in action.” (p.367/June Callwood/A Thought, Or Maybe Two)

[Niya · Rating 2 out of 5]

While similar to the previous two collections in that it features the writing of Canadian women (both authors and other professionals) this collection moves away from the important but untold stories of women's lives to the advice they want to give to other women. While no less honest, it makes the collection both preachy and surprisingly guarded in an unpalatable sort of way. The collection is still worth skimming, but it doesn't hold to the same standards as the first two.

[Lbaker · Rating 3 out of 5]

Many of these essays are wonderful, compelling, interesting.
It is a little long, and could be 25% shorter - it was difficult to finish.
The essays are also a little "one note" in that there are few that stand out either in opinion or style.

Some of the essays will stay with me for a long time, particularly one about abusive relationships, it disturbed me enough that I put the book down for a couple of weeks.

[Emily Pomeroy · Rating 4 out of 5]

I cannot get enough of this series. There is something about women telling their stories that ignites something inside of me. I can remember a time not long ago when stories like these would haunt me for some reason. Now, I crave them.

[Nancy · Rating 3 out of 5]

Another 35 stories and this book I have is autographed! The theme - personal discoveries.

What I love about reading these essays is how they make me reflect on the same theme and draw stories and memories from my life on the theme as well.

[Cas D. · Rating 2 out of 5]

Meh. It is what you'd expect from a collaborative book of female authors, discussing such "riveting" as menopause and coping with housewife drudgery. I guess it might be inspirational to some, but I didn't find it to be sensationally amazing.

[michelle]

6/7/06

[Anne]

I love these collections.