Anne Lamott

From the first line Anne Lamott's piece breathes honesty.  She explains her addiction through what seems like an unfiltered lens.  Lamott isn't afraid to explain her world and her thoughts to the reader.  One aspect of Lamott's writing that I appreciate is this honesty.  Her vulnerabilty is coupled with specific/meaningful sentences gain trust with the reader.  While reading both Thirst and The Aunties,  I felt as though she could easily be reading these chapters too me, her voice is strong, comfortable, and sometimes even conversational. All of these techniques of voice help to draw the reader into her story.  She is able to take a serious issue, alcoholism, and still make a reader, who may be against alcohol, still feel comfortable reading about someone who has the problem.  The vulnerability works in her favor and I think that is something we as writers can all learn from.

Lamott has many sentences that are short and completely effective.  She proves that a writer does not need long eloquent sentences to still make a reader fall in love. Often times, I feel as though the only way to my reader is by using extremely long sentences.  Lamott teaches me the complete opposite.  She uses line spacing and short sentences to create effect. In The Aunties, Lamott shows us this technique: 

"I think.

I'm almost sure."

(201)

Lamott also has sentences showing her honesty, as mentioned in the first paragraph.  In Thirst  she writes, "But whatever it was, learning to eat was about learning to live-and deciding to live; and it is one of the most radical things I've ever done." (198) Also in The Aunties she writes, "...sometimes he thinks that heaven is just a new pair of glasses. I was trying to remember to wear them." (200)  

I really enjoyed her last chapter, The Aunties because I liked seeing her be able to redefine beauty.  She describes all of her fears and insecurities about herself and comes to a realization that we are all insecure.  Maybe insecurities would come later, but that feeling exists in everyone at some point.  She says, 'They were still of an age when they could play without wearing the glasses of puberty that would make them see all their flaws." (203) Of course here she recognizes that they didn't see the "imperfections" but she also has a tone that makes readers understand the universal truth that someday they will experience it. Hopefully as writers, our sentences and tone can capture a vulnerability that allows the reader to treasure each word we write. I think Lamott does a great job of modeling that for us. 

Angela Payaban