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How to Write an Autobiographical Novel: Essays MP3 CD – Audiobook, December 4, 2018

by Alexander Chee (Author), Daniel K Isaac (Reader)
4.5 out of 5 stars 732 ratings
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An essay collection exploring his education as a man, writer, and activist-and how we form our identities in life and in art.

As a novelist, Alexander Chee has been described as masterful by Roxane Gay, incendiary by the New York Times, and brilliant by the Washington Post. With How to Write an Autobiographical Novel, his first collection of nonfiction, he is sure to secure his place as one of the finest essayists of his generation as well.

How to Write an Autobiographical Novel is the author's manifesto on the entangling of life, literature, and politics, and how the lessons learned from a life spent reading and writing fiction have changed him. In these essays, he grows from student to teacher, reader to writer, and reckons with his identities as a son, a gay man, a Korean American, an artist, an activist, a lover, and a friend. He examines some of the most formative experiences of his life and the nation's history, including his father's death, the AIDS crisis, 9/11, the jobs that supported his writing-Tarot-reading, bookselling, cater-waiting for William F. Buckley-the writing of his first novel, Edinburgh, and the election of Donald Trump.

By turns commanding, heartbreaking, and wry, How to Write an Autobiographical Novel asks questions about how we create ourselves in life and in art and how to fight when our dearest truths are under attack.

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  1. Print length
    1 pages
  2. Language
    English
  3. Publisher
    Blackstone Publishing
  4. Publication date
    December 4, 2018
  5. Dimensions
    5.3 x 0.6 x 6.8 inches
  6. ISBN-10
    1982597038
  7. ISBN-13
    978-1982597030
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The Amazon Book Review
Book recommendations, author interviews, editors' picks, and more. Read it now.

Editorial Reviews

Review

A searing examination of the costs of writing.

-- "Vox"

Alexander Chee explores the realm of the real with extraordinarily beautiful essays. Being real here is an ambition, a haunting, an impossibility, and an illusion. What passes for real, his essays suggest, becomes real, just as life becomes art, and art, pursued this fully, becomes a life.

-- "Eula Biss, author of On Immunity"

Alexander Chee is one of our most important writers and we should listen to every damn thing he has to say.

-- "Jami Attenberg, author of All Grown Up"

A knowing and luminous self-portrait.

-- "O, The Oprah Magazine"

An absolute gift of a book for writers everywhere. Every single essay is a pearl.

-- "Chicago Review of Books"

Chee has written a moving and personal tribute to impermanence, a wise and transgressive meditation on a life lived both because of and in spite of America, a place where, he writes, you are allowed to speak the truth as long as nothing changes.

-- "New York Times Book Review"

Chee remains introspective and self-reflective without arrogance...Chee is able to write about himself and, by extension, about all of us.

-- "Esquire"

Chee's insights about writing, love, and activism are hard won, honest, and incredibly wise.

-- "Guardian (London)"

Chee's marvel of a collection opens with the sting of clarity...The sixteen essays that knit together his profound and resonant collection are a nimble study in radical self-invention...The revelations that follow crackle with the same glowing, essential truths.

-- "Wired"

Chee's writing has a mesmerizing quality; his sentences are rife with profound truths without lapsing into the didactic.

-- "NPR"

Every essay, no matter the subject, exhibits warmth, rigor, tact...The mask conceals and it reveals; writing transfigures and it uncovers. That's the gift that writing has given Chee, and it's the gift that his wonderful new collection gives its readers.

-- " Boston Globe"

He beckons readers to experience his private moments with such clarity and honesty that we're immediately brought into his consciousness. At the same time, he asks us to contemplate the largest questions about identity, sexuality, family, art and war.

-- "Washington Post"

His essays are an invitation not to review the rules of writing but to trace a unique pathway into knowledge and being in and through writing.

-- "Los Angeles Review of Books"

Meditates on how art shapes who we are, unpacking its author's own coming-of-age as a gay Korean man to craft persuasive, engrossing arguments.

-- "Entertainment Weekly"

About the Author

Alexander Chee is the bestselling author of the novels The Queen of the Night and Edinburgh. He is a contributing editor at the New Republic, an editor-at-large at the Virginia Quarterly Review, and a critic-at-large at the Los Angeles Times. His work has appeared in The Best American Essays 2016, the New York Times Magazine, Slate, Guernica, and Tin House, among others. He is an associate professor of English at Dartmouth College.

Product details

  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ Blackstone Publishing
  • Publication date ‏ : ‎ December 4, 2018
  • Edition ‏ : ‎ Unabridged
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • Print length ‏ : ‎ 1 pages
  • ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 1982597038
  • ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1982597030
  • Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 3.21 ounces
  • Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 5.3 x 0.6 x 6.8 inches
  • Customer Reviews:
    4.5 out of 5 stars 732 ratings

About the author

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Alexander Chee

Alexander Chee

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ALEXANDER CHEE won a Whiting Award for his first novel, Edinburgh, and is a recipient of the NEA Fellowship in Fiction and residencies from the MacDowell Colony, Ledig House, and Civitella Ranieri. His writing has appeared in the New York Times Book Review, Tin House, Slate, and NPR, among others, and he is a Contributing Editor at The New Republic. He lives in New York City.

Customer reviews

4.5 out of 5 stars
732 global ratings

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Customers say

Customers find the book's essays powerful and expertly written, with one review noting how they show how novels work. Moreover, the book receives praise for its readability, style, and story quality, with one customer describing it as an unusual memoir/essay collection. Additionally, customers appreciate the humor, with one review mentioning it's both fun and heartbreaking.

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Essay writingReadabilityStyleStory qualityHumor
35 customers mention "Essay writing"35 positive0 negative

Customers find the essays in the book powerful and expertly written, with one customer noting how they show how novels work, while another appreciates the poetic language and thought.

"Halfway through this book upon the discovery of yet another gut-punching line of prose, after already half-a-dozen run ins with nuggets of advice I..." Read more

"...It is really three books: 1. How to Write, a primer on what makes writing powerful, moving, evocative, urgent, and necessary...." Read more

"...I liked the memoir approach to offering, in general, subtle advice on writing. Not sure I’ll reread it as a guidebook but it was inspiring...." Read more

"...A beautifully moving collection of essays, Chee's nonfiction debut ranges from the front lines of AIDS activism in 1990s San Francisco to the search..." Read more

24 customers mention "Readability"24 positive0 negative

Customers find the book highly readable, describing it as wonderful, masterful, and wise, with several noting it as one of the best books of 2018.

"...Chee is one of our best public intellectuals, made stronger by the fact that I don't think he sees himself as more than a careful observer. 3...." Read more

"...It is both encouraging and wise...." Read more

"there is extraordinary wisdom, love, beauty in these essays...." Read more

"Chee's language and thought are poetic and masterful...." Read more

12 customers mention "Style"12 positive0 negative

Customers appreciate the writing style of the book, describing it as exquisite and thoughtful, with one customer noting that every sentence is gorgeous.

"there is extraordinary wisdom, love, beauty in these essays...." Read more

"...Chee's essays are rich and gorgeous and he uses the essay form brilliantly to circle around and parse various topics..." Read more

"...in and dropped the other book to focus on Chee’s essays- they are beautiful, thought provoking, eye opening, and reminded me exactly why I’ve always..." Read more

"...—it is even more so in this essay collection with its Woolfian attention to beauty and to the minute particulars of being human...." Read more

10 customers mention "Story quality"10 positive0 negative

Customers enjoy the stories in the book, with one review noting its episodic structure and another describing it as a cohesive narrative with many moving parts.

"...3. Novel, a cohesive story of many moving parts, one that coalesces into a sum greater than those parts...." Read more

"...was even more relieved, because this was absolutely the right time to encounter this book...." Read more

"...with its Woolfian attention to beauty and to the minute particulars of being human...." Read more

"...He recalls personal struggle with identity while beautifully portraying all that comes in living within the queer community...." Read more

7 customers mention "Humor"7 positive0 negative

Customers find the book humorous, with one mentioning it is both fun and heartbreaking.

"...These essays range from fun to heartbreaking, provocative to inspiring...." Read more

"...The writing is so beautiful. YOU WILL CRY...." Read more

"...through his experiences and inner dialogue, both entertaining and heart-wrenching. A must-read for all!" Read more

"...He does have kind of a cute sense of humor, but overall I think this book encourages the worst tendencies in memoir writing...." Read more

Do not miss this powerful book
5 out of 5 stars
Do not miss this powerful book
Searing, honest, thoughtful, and provocative and the book includes the incomparable classic, “Girl.” Well worth reading just for the literary advice. Well worth reading for the autobiography. Well worth reading for Chee’s hardwon truths and honesty intelligence and vulnerability. Simply full of gems.
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Top reviews from the United States

  • Nicholas
    5.0 out of 5 stars Fantastic
    Reviewed in the United States on June 11, 2019
    Format: PaperbackVerified Purchase
    Halfway through this book upon the discovery of yet another gut-punching line of prose, after already half-a-dozen run ins with nuggets of advice I’d want to remember forever and words that made we shudder with thought-provoking excitement, I realized that I should’ve read along with a highlighter and little sticky tabs. ⁣⁣⁣⁣
    ⁣⁣⁣⁣
    I’ve never been the kind of reader to graffiti a book with bleeding highlights and colorful tabs littered throughout its pages. And I never understood those who did either. “Great! Let’s ruin something fun by turning it into homework…”⁣⁣
    ⁣⁣
    But like confetti, celebratory thrown into the air, HOW TO WRITE AN AUTOBIOGRAPHICAL NOVEL dazzled me—with its honesty, wisdom, and flat out artistry for writing. Each essay something shiny made to celebrate something about the self and about life. But though confetti glitters, it's also sharp around the edges. These essays remind us of that—that while there's a beauty to life and to the self, both can still cut back. ⁣

    As writer this book felt like a treasure map, and as a person this book felt like a magic mirror from some kind of twisted fairy tale—a mirror I could see myself in but one that could also see me right back.⁣⁣⁣⁣
    ⁣⁣⁣⁣
    I finished the second half of this book without a highlighter. Instead I ended the book with a folder in my iPhone called “Susan,” filled with snapshots of pages and lines I hope to never forget. Now the only thing left to do is reread the first half of the book and fill Susan with photos of the lines I missed the first time. ⁣⁣⁣⁣
    4 people found this helpful
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  • Charlie
    5.0 out of 5 stars Three Books in One: An Essential Read
    Reviewed in the United States on May 15, 2018
    Format: PaperbackVerified Purchase
    This book is essential reading for writers and those who love books. It is really three books: 1. How to Write, a primer on what makes writing powerful, moving, evocative, urgent, and necessary. The lessons in this portion of the book are some of the most important and well-explained tidbits. In two cases, Chee took old axioms I've heard again and again and showed me the rationale behind them--why the are true--and now I understand them. 2. Autobiographical, an exploration of Chee's life, in which he has borne witness to exceptional moments, who has wrestled with a complicated past and rendered all of those moments so clearly it feels as though we are being told a richly drawn secret. I don't know what it is quite yet, but there is something about the way this book is written that feels both exceptionally public and deeply intimate. Reading it is like going on the best first five dates of your life. Chee is one of our best public intellectuals, made stronger by the fact that I don't think he sees himself as more than a careful observer. 3. Novel, a cohesive story of many moving parts, one that coalesces into a sum greater than those parts. There is Chee, the protagonist, and his first novel, a sometimes antagonist, and in some ways this book of essays evokes Odysseus making his way back home--a long journey with many sidetracks, each of which enriches the story told and deepens our experience.
    63 people found this helpful
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  • Carol
    4.0 out of 5 stars Nice compliment to more straightforward writing guides
    Reviewed in the United States on June 23, 2018
    Format: PaperbackVerified Purchase
    I don’t know him or his work. I’ve never read his novels (but will) and was a little confused and skeptical at the touch of woo-woo at the beginning with the Tarot and all. But as I continued he won my heart. I liked the memoir approach to offering, in general, subtle advice on writing. Not sure I’ll reread it as a guidebook but it was inspiring. And I like and admire the guy :)
    4 people found this helpful
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  • Shelby Griffith
    5.0 out of 5 stars Perfect book to read during quarantine and probably any other time
    Reviewed in the United States on April 15, 2020
    Format: PaperbackVerified Purchase
    I bought this book 6 months ago and then felt guilty for not picking it up every time I passed my shelf. So when I pulled this title out of my book jar two weeks ago, I was relieved. And then I started reading it and was even more relieved, because this was absolutely the right time to encounter this book. A beautifully moving collection of essays, Chee's nonfiction debut ranges from the front lines of AIDS activism in 1990s San Francisco to the search for purpose when teaching writing in a post-9/11 New York. Personally, I will treasure the essay on studying under Annie Dillard until the day I die, but pretty much every essay in this book is the best. The final installment, "On Becoming an American Writer," is perhaps the most convincing argument I've read in favor of nurturing creativity in our increasingly entropic world. I cannot recommend this one highly enough. I'll be rereading it many times.
    One person found this helpful
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  • carilynp
    5.0 out of 5 stars A gift to writers and readers alike
    Reviewed in the United States on May 6, 2018
    Format: KindleVerified Purchase
    In Alexander Chee’s HOW TO WRITE AN AUTOBIOGRAPHICAL NOVEL, he goes deep into his past, his boyhood, life as a student, the years leading up to becoming a writer, and a trauma that he gently reveals as he discovered he was not really past the pain as he had not yet acknowledged the hurt.

    In the book, Chee’s dedication to his craft, and how using his own stories and sharing his beliefs, enabled him to become a better writer. It is clear how immensely talented he is not only in the way his written words so effortlessly seep into you, but in the way, he pours his heart and soul into this book. It is a gift to his fellow writers as well as to any reader who appreciates how a book comes to life. It is both encouraging and wise. It is the stuff of what makes readers admire authors for the hard work that they do and how we, as readers, fall in love with great books.
    20 people found this helpful
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  • hilal isler
    5.0 out of 5 stars floored
    Reviewed in the United States on November 4, 2018
    Format: PaperbackVerified Purchase
    there is extraordinary wisdom, love, beauty in these essays. chee has a strong, sure voice and writes about the spaces between things, the intersections between art and activism, in a way i haven't seen done before. 'the writing life' was gold. '1989' made my blood boil, showed me myself. 'after peter' destroyed me.

    "we lacked models for bravery and were trying to invent them," chee writes, "as we had likewise invented models for loving and activism." he was talking about being part of the gay community in san francisco at a certain time. but in writing these essays, chee has become a model - of loving and activism, of why we write and how - for me. five stars. endless love. thank you, alexander chee.
    6 people found this helpful
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Top reviews from other countries

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  • Jared Braiterman
    5.0 out of 5 stars Remarkable autobiographic essays from one of today’s greatest novelist and writer.
    Reviewed in Japan on May 9, 2018
    Format: PaperbackVerified Purchase
    Novelist Alexander Chee’s stories illuminate a life of writing and creating. He evokes the formative life of a writer including growing up bi racial in white Maine, a Chiapas high school summer exchange, and coming into adulthood as an AIDS and queer activist in San Francisco in the late 1980s, and the long struggle to become a well known author in NYC. I am still mid way through and am sure this will be a memorable book.
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  • Amazon Customer
    5.0 out of 5 stars I would highly recommend it to others (and have done so)
    Reviewed in the United Kingdom on July 7, 2018
    Format: PaperbackVerified Purchase
    I bought this book on a whim, it's the first book I've read by Alexander Chee so I didn't know what to expect - but all the essays were so powerfully written, challenging and engaging. I would highly recommend it to others (and have done so).
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  • Susan Olding
    5.0 out of 5 stars How to write, period.
    Reviewed in Canada on September 9, 2018
    Format: KindleVerified Purchase
    Alexander Chee has to be one of the most thoughtful, reflective, politically engaged, and interesting contemporary US writers. I love his fiction, but hold a special place in my heart for his essays, which are beautiful and truthful, always, and take a reader to new places and make me ask myself questions and alternately stimulate my mind and break my heart.
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  • Roodoodoo974
    5.0 out of 5 stars Insightful
    Reviewed in France on February 21, 2023
    Format: PaperbackVerified Purchase
    A very insightful book, more than a collection of short stories, it reads as a novel going from the early years of AIDS in San Francisco to the “election” that felt like the end of the world. It makes me want to read again his masterpiece “Edinburgh” now that I know how it came to be.
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  • Alberto Satisfaction
    5.0 out of 5 stars Buenazo.
    Reviewed in Mexico on May 30, 2019
    Format: PaperbackVerified Purchase
    Es un libro con un formato bastante interesante para escribir una autobiografía. La prosa es buena y entretenida. Da ánimos para seguir procurando la obra del autor.
    Report