Not a Place on Any Map

by Alexis Paige

Not a Place on Any Map, winner of the 2016 Vine Leaves Vignette Collection Award, explores the switch-backing emotional terrain of traumas and triumphs, as well as the disparate landscapes where they unfold. In rich, evocative snapshots of Chicago, the desert Southwest, California, New England, and Texas, the book traces a peripatetic childhood shaped by loss and dislocation that tumbles into an early adulthood spent chasing excitement from coast to coast and abroad. After being raped in Italy on her first trip to Europe at twenty-five, the author goes adrift in despair from which only drugs and alcohol provide escape. The flash lyric essays in this debut collection pursue a lost sense of self and home after trauma, but as the author discovers, home is not a place marked neatly on any map. Reaching recovery takes years and detours through depression, blurred landscapes, rehab, and jail. Ultimately, the book maps not home at all, but a truer place, one made all the sweeter for having travelled so far to find it.

Genres: Memoir, Nonfiction

88 pages, Paperback

Published December 5, 2016

About the author

This author is also published under Alexis Fox Paige.

Alexis Paige is the author of two books: WORK HARD, NOT SMART: HOW TO MAKE A MESSY LITERARY LIFE, a craft memoir and ode to Adult ADHD; and NOT A PLACE ON ANY MAP, a memoir in vignettes about the geography of trauma and addiction—both published by Vine Leaves Press. Her essays “Common Purple Lilac” and “The Right to Remain” appeared as Notables in The Best American Essays series. Paige’s work also appears in many journals and anthologies, including Longform, Hippocampus, Fourth Genre, The Pinch, and on Brevity, where she was an Assistant Editor from 2013-2019. Winner of the New Millennium Nonfiction Prize, four-time Pushcart Prize nominee, and twice a top-ten finalist in Glamour Magazine’s essay contest, she holds an MA in Poetry from San Francisco State University and an MFA in nonfiction from the University of Southern Maine. Paige is a development editor (aka, book whisperer), and she lectures and teaches widely on writing, writing craft, and social justice issues. Assistant Professor of English at Vermont Technical College, Paige has also served as guest faculty at the Stonecoast MFA program, as writer-in-residence at Bay Path University, and as visiting artist at Saint Lawrence University. She writes and edits from a converted farmhouse pantry in Vermont, where she lives with her husband and a rotating cast of rescue animals.

Reviews

[Angela Palm · Rating 5 out of 5]

This gentle shock of a book is composed of lyric vignettes that traverse the physical and emotional terrains of trauma, addiction, pain, incarceration, and ultimately triumph. A book of place and no place, a slim volume with teeth. Paige is a very talented writer and I can't wait to read more from her!

[Nina Gaby · Rating 5 out of 5]

Stringing together vignettes is no easy task. They are not just random soundbytes or inchoate thoughts. The dilemma? How to create cohesion without weight. Flow without redundance. Paige uses the interstiality between each form and the bulk of each phrase, leaving the openings and the closings much like the shape of the topography that she describes. The result? A narrative that arcs and loops and will want to be revisited again and again. I am a fan of the vignette and a huge fan of Paige.

[Anne Pinkerton · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a powerful, beautifully written, tough and sweet memoir-esque collection of essays. It's a snack-size book, but don't underestimate it; these stories really pack a punch. I love the way Paige organized it in a semi-linear way, but just allows for twists and turns along the way just like the road she's on. Like it's name suggests, Not a Place on Any Map explores both literal geography and an internal landscape that is continually evolving. Page's narrative is a lovely balance of mystery and disclosure, and her style marries a little of the vibe of prose poetry with more straight-up nonfiction writing. These tugs feel in harmony with the internal wrestle going on with Paige.

[Karen · Rating 4 out of 5]

A thoughtful thin collection of essays exploring a life that had spun out of control, Paige's book looks at the geography of life and its place in physical space. Made up of a series of vignettes, Not a Place on Any Map details both an autobiography and an exploration of place. A fascinating read!

[Lisa Romeo · Rating 4 out of 5]

Whether you call this a book of flash nonfiction, vignettes, memoir in mini-essays, or anything else, it delivers, in small but powerful doses, a unique reading experience, especially for those who love poetic prose. Paige knows just what to leave out and what to include to paint a picture that's both full and yet encourages reader involvement in the space between the life stories. The title resonates in every piece, suggesting new and more complex meanings as they unfold. A fine little book to be read in a few hours but savored longer.

[John Nelson · Rating 5 out of 5]

My only disappointment with Not a Place on Any Map was that there weren't more of its wonderful, captivating vignettes. Every story that composes the whole of this book asks the reader to consider, to think, to grasp at significance and meaning in their own lives and experiences, as well as the world around them. I will look forward to the opportunity to read Paige's next book.

[Sonya Huber · Rating 5 out of 5]

A woven collection of memoir snapshots, dense and revelatory as poetry, but true and grounded in the author's life. Generous and gritty and searching. I loved this book!

[Angry Angel · Rating 4 out of 5]

Review here: http://bit.ly/2j5gnc9

[Nolabeck · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent account of life on St John before and after Irma and Maria.