Living Solo

by Adrienne Salinger

A collection of photographs and profiles of fifty people who have chosen to live alone

Genres: Nonfiction

106 pages, Paperback

First published November 1, 1998

About the author

Adrienne Salinger is an American photographer.
Salinger is best known for her 1995 photo book In My Room: Teenagers in their Bedrooms. Her work is included in the collection of the Museum of Fine Arts Houston, the Washington State Arts Commission, the National Gallery of Canada and the Art Institute of Chicago. Salinger is a professor of photography at the University of New Mexico.

Reviews

[Laura · Rating 4 out of 5]

Adrienne Salinger traveled to several places in the United States and met people. If they lived alone, she asked if she could see where they lived. She would interview them and take their photograph.

I looked at each photograph before I read the excerpt from the interview. I was often surprised by what I read. It was not what I expected after looking at the person in their home. Perhaps purposeful, nearly everyone in the book talked about enjoying living by themselves and the freedom it provides.

There’s a afterword that gives a short update on each subject. My only qualm is that the book is organized by first name and the afterword is organized by last name.

[Elaine Meszaros · Rating 4 out of 5]

Despite one in seven Americans living alone*, being single is still viewed with a combination of suspicion and pity. Yet many people love and choose to live along. Salinger's subjects run the gamut from those forced into singlehood by the death of family or a spouse to those who consider themselves loners and how they revel in their status. Each photo encapsulates the subject in their home. However, the page-long statements accompanying each image span topics from why the subject lives alone to scientology, the Holocaust, Marxism, sex, art and children. While clearly cut from longer interviews, these statements show how people living alone don't fit any particular stereo-typical mold. Also, if the photos are to believed, single men often wear ugly shoes and single women have ugly pillows. But perhaps I am reading too much into the photos.