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All Is Leaf: Essays and Transformations
Drawing inspiration and urgency from the storied Goethe Oak tree at Buchenwald concentration camp—and from the leaf as symbol of all change, growth, and renewal—award-winning essayist John Price explores a multitude of dramatic transformations, in his life and in the fragile world “the how of the organism—that keeps your humanity alive.”
He employs an array of forms and voices, whether penning a break-up letter to America or a literary rock-n-roll road song dedicated to prairie scientists, or giving pregame pep talks to his son’s losing football team. Here, too, are moving portrayals of his father’s last effort as a small-town lawyer to defend the rights of abused women, and his own efforts as a writing teacher to honor the personal stories of his students.
From his Iowa backyard to the edge of the Arctic Circle, from the forgotten recesses of the body to the far reaches of the solar system, this book demonstrates the ways imagination and informed compassion can, as Price describes it, expand thousandfold the boundaries of what we might “have naïvely considered an individual self.”
He employs an array of forms and voices, whether penning a break-up letter to America or a literary rock-n-roll road song dedicated to prairie scientists, or giving pregame pep talks to his son’s losing football team. Here, too, are moving portrayals of his father’s last effort as a small-town lawyer to defend the rights of abused women, and his own efforts as a writing teacher to honor the personal stories of his students.
From his Iowa backyard to the edge of the Arctic Circle, from the forgotten recesses of the body to the far reaches of the solar system, this book demonstrates the ways imagination and informed compassion can, as Price describes it, expand thousandfold the boundaries of what we might “have naïvely considered an individual self.”
218 pages, Paperback
Published June 6, 2022
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Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews
June 28, 2022
Phenomenal 🤌🏼
June 26, 2022
“Is this any less important than the fall of empires?” Dr. John Price asks, regarding not only the stories we tell ourselves but those we choose to share with others. As, among many things, a professor of Creative Nonfiction writing for over thirty years, his retrospective essay collected in ALL IS LEAF, Price understands and champions the value of the personal essay. As a writer, the care and craft in his work is readily apparent -- this is his fourth published collection -- but it is him as a reader that stood out to me in this particular work.
Creative Nonfiction is not a new genre by any means, but as the “fourth genre” it can struggle to be accepted both in academic circles and among wider audiences, with the former making the distinction, and Price notes in “My Grant Application Letter,” between “serious, scholarly research that can take years to complete” and the “amateurish” kind that involves “simply stepping into your backyard” -- a problem particularly apparent as “a large chunk of my published nonfiction has, in fact, been set in my yard: front, side, and back.”
The point of this collection and the genre as a whole is not “naval-gazing,” as it is so often proclaimed, but what Price excels at: combining the ordinary with the extraordinary. A brief vacation with his son is a Lovecraftian horror. A stray peacock roaming Council Bluffs garners as much attention and apprehension as a mountain lion. Pizza night at Planet Fitness showcases the deep yet ephemeral bonds humanity shares with one another right before we hurdle through a global pandemic.
As a reader, as so many of us are, Price has seen glimpses into countless lives, with each new story expanding his understanding of our relationship with ourselves, each other, and the natural world. And because he shares his work with us, we benefit from all of his experience. This collection is humble, funny, and deeply personal, and centered around the theme of transformation which, as we all attempt to navigate what often feels like a new world, is a metamorphosis we can all relate to.
June 27, 2022
All Is Leaf, an essay collection by John T. Price, started strong for me, but, as is often the case with collections, went up and down in terms of my response to individual essays, making for an overall enjoyable but uneven reading experience.
Price’s main topics/themes include nature (especially our despoiling of it), family (particularly father-son relationships), and the inevitable march of time. In writing about these and other subjects, he ranges widely in form and tone (sometimes within the same essay), and the variety of styles and structures is for the most part a clear plus in the collection. The first essay, one of my favorites in the book, is written as a grant application introduction and Price’s wry, often self-deprecating voice nails his often humorous and sometimes moving explanation of how his project morphed from “a serious environmental essay about a centuries-old burr oak tree in our front yard in Iowa” into something that saw him flying to Germany to research Goethe (and visit an old friend) then touring Buchenwald, and then, five years later (“time flies”), it has become something else entire as his life and career have changed.
Other original structures were less successful for me. A break-up letter to America had its moments, but didn’t feel particularly fresh (I’ll note my reading was perhaps marred coming as it did within a slew of SCOTUS decisions that had me despairing), while an essay written as a series of speeches to the local high school football team, that again had its moments (all the essays here do) went on way too long for my preferences. And an otherwise engaging and often powerfully emotional essay about a trip with one of his sons was somewhat less enjoyable due to some stylistic choices, though personal mileage will probably vary more on that one than the others I’d say.
On the other hand, an essay about his father last case before retiring as an attorney was powerful and moving both thanks to its general subject matter (the ways in which the poor, and women in particular) are horribly shortchanged by the legal system and its personal subject matter (watching his fathers in present time, memories of his father, etc.). It’s a perfect model of what the best creative non-fiction does in how it melds the universal and the personal. It also, in its deft use of a film allusion, has a killer close. This essay and then first alone I’d argue are worth the cost of admission to the anthology, though as noted even the ones I’d consider weaker entries have something to admire, something to make you think, something to evoke an emotional response. So uneven, yes, but still recommended reading.
Price’s main topics/themes include nature (especially our despoiling of it), family (particularly father-son relationships), and the inevitable march of time. In writing about these and other subjects, he ranges widely in form and tone (sometimes within the same essay), and the variety of styles and structures is for the most part a clear plus in the collection. The first essay, one of my favorites in the book, is written as a grant application introduction and Price’s wry, often self-deprecating voice nails his often humorous and sometimes moving explanation of how his project morphed from “a serious environmental essay about a centuries-old burr oak tree in our front yard in Iowa” into something that saw him flying to Germany to research Goethe (and visit an old friend) then touring Buchenwald, and then, five years later (“time flies”), it has become something else entire as his life and career have changed.
Other original structures were less successful for me. A break-up letter to America had its moments, but didn’t feel particularly fresh (I’ll note my reading was perhaps marred coming as it did within a slew of SCOTUS decisions that had me despairing), while an essay written as a series of speeches to the local high school football team, that again had its moments (all the essays here do) went on way too long for my preferences. And an otherwise engaging and often powerfully emotional essay about a trip with one of his sons was somewhat less enjoyable due to some stylistic choices, though personal mileage will probably vary more on that one than the others I’d say.
On the other hand, an essay about his father last case before retiring as an attorney was powerful and moving both thanks to its general subject matter (the ways in which the poor, and women in particular) are horribly shortchanged by the legal system and its personal subject matter (watching his fathers in present time, memories of his father, etc.). It’s a perfect model of what the best creative non-fiction does in how it melds the universal and the personal. It also, in its deft use of a film allusion, has a killer close. This essay and then first alone I’d argue are worth the cost of admission to the anthology, though as noted even the ones I’d consider weaker entries have something to admire, something to make you think, something to evoke an emotional response. So uneven, yes, but still recommended reading.
September 28, 2022
A wonderful collection of essays that take many fun risks with form that feel refreshing to read. In one essay, Price imagines his relationship with his youngest as a sci-fi story. A student of mine called the sci-fi story and the analysis of the “creature” (Price’s son) as an act of love. A way to document the changing relationship between parent and child as they grow older. A lot of this book reads that way—fresh and imaginative approaches to redefine / expand on the love Price has for the Midwest, his father, his kids, his craft and the genre of nonfiction as a whole. A wonderful and “transformative” work!
April 18, 2022
I'm not big on essays, but I did like many of these, and I can see the intelligence and good writing that presents itself. Recommended.
I really appreciate the free ARC for review!!
I really appreciate the free ARC for review!!
June 22, 2022
Officially in love with essays
John Price manages to convey all of the emotions, woven through with fascinating facts, and told in a variety of forms. I will have to read this again to catch all of the brilliant details, but it is a must read book for anyone who care about a person or a place or a tree…or who has ever been curious about anything .
John Price manages to convey all of the emotions, woven through with fascinating facts, and told in a variety of forms. I will have to read this again to catch all of the brilliant details, but it is a must read book for anyone who care about a person or a place or a tree…or who has ever been curious about anything .
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews