Fluid States: Essays

by Heidi Czerwiec

A collection of lyric essays that considers the way subjects, stories, facts, and memories are as interconnected as streams in a watershed, Heidi Czerwiec’s Fluid States explores the interlocking issues created by the oilfields of North Dakota; the ephemerality of perfume, canning tomatoes, a fungus that infects and transforms mushrooms; and being the focus of internet hate. Short essays that present delightfully surprising facts with elegant and lyric language, her pieces all share underlying currents that question assumptions about gender, violence, reason, and intuition.

Genres: Nonfiction, Essays

108 pages, Paperback

Published February 12, 2019

Reviews

[Haven · Rating 4 out of 5]

Some beautiful stuff going on in here. So many pages i took pictures of because of how beautiful they were. So many highlighted quotes.

[Jami Lin · Rating 5 out of 5]

I read this in one sitting--it engrossed me that much. For example: I actively dislike perfume, and I've never had one iota of interest in perfume as a concept. Yet the first section of this collection--"Decants"--which is all about perfume and scent and scent memory and master perfumers (who knew there were such things)--captivated me to no end. I wanted more. I'm going to look up everything else she's written.