Compare/Contrast Journals

Erin Ingalls-Stout

Prof. De Piero

WRT339

22 July 2015

Compare/Contrast

            When deciding which three journals I was going to use for this assignment I thought I would look under the Kindle unlimited section, where you get access to as many books as you can read for ten dollars a month, and see what was offered. I looked under the memoir section first, which is where I stayed, and scrolled through tons of options until I had finally chosen three that sounded intriguing. I purposely tried to make them as different as possible, hoping for variety in style and story so that I would actually read them after this assignment was finished. What I got was memoirs about a monk’s journey, a dog-human bond, and a bipolar woman’s story.

      To get a feel for each writer I read the prologues and the first chapters of each book. I began with If Truth be Told: A Monk’s Memoir written by Om Swami.  The cover is of him walking away, his robe flowing in a thoughtful breeze, as if to read his story is to follow him on a journey of peace and self-actualization, which it is.  Other than this there are no pictures; the story is told only through his tranquil tone. His writing has a steady rhythm that is soothing and sturdy, giving the impression that his words are reliable and that there is no rush to get to the end; the story is the point, just like the journey of life. His writing is formal with the expectation that the readers will know or find out for themselves what the foreign words mean. He is very honest and insightful in his observations of both what is happening internally and externally, an important quality of a monk’s life, and he uses well-placed dialogues intermittently with his internal dialogue. The paragraphs he uses are shorter in length and easy to follow, each changing with a new element of the story. Swami uses descriptions sparingly, yet is captivating in his simplicity. The insight he has on his journey connects to everything around him, including societal issues and his own faults and ignorance, all the while using playful humor, keeping the subjects light.

            The journey began with him leaving his family and entire life behind in search of inner fulfillment through monkhood and so included in his writing is the man who remembers the life that most of his readers are leading, as well as the nature of the monk he became. He appeals to what will entertain the reader while simultaneously incorporating the elements of his new practice that promote patience and wisdom.

            The second one I chose to read is Merle’s Door: Lessons form a Freethinking Dog by Ted Kerasote. The cover of this memoir is of the author’s dog (or a lookalike) with its kind, inquisitive eyes, lying upon a mountain cliff with the range of high rocky mountaintops looming in the background, waiting to be explored.   This feeling of connection and free spirit is the essence of his book. Kerasote starts his story out immediately in an unusual way – he describes the people around him by their smell. Being a story about his dog he spends much of his time interpreting what the dog, Merle, is thinking and saying, which brings a very relatable element to his writing, as well as forging a deeper connection between the reader and Merle. His story is told in the past tense and uses an amusing balance of scientific terminology and guessing to reason out what is going on with Merle. Whereas Swami uses the journey of reading to express his message over time, Kerasote has laid out the purpose of his story from the get go and tells the story with the conclusion spelled out for us. He tells much of his story through descriptions that are worded with many short, staccato-like adjectives. His details are specific, as if telling the story the way a dog would have remembered it. The paragraphs are longer and full of more detail than Swami’s, using flashbacks and speculation to deepen the relationship between the reader and the story.

            The last memoir, and one I was most excited to read, is called Madness: A Bipolar Life written by Marya Hornbacher. Right from the beginning I was captivated. Her cover page is a woman, maybe her; only half of her body showing and the rest is emptiness.  I thought it was a clever was to visualize bipolar disorder as an image. Feeling torn down the middle by juxtaposing moods, her depressive self was showing in dark colors with the yellow color behind her representing the deceptive liveliness of the manic side and its sprawling vacancy. Hornbacher began her story using an exact date and writes in present tense. She writes much of the first chapter in stream of consciousness, perfectly matching the scene is which she goes in and out of consciousness, captivating the confusion of what is real, what she thought was being said and what she said inside her head. Her humor is dark and sardonic; she was cutting her arm and accidentally hit an artery, causing her to go to the emergency room, all the while making jokes and nuanced observations of her reality.  To some the nonchalant attitude she displays about her situation might be off putting or offensive, but to me it is a key element to her personality and disorder that effectively puts the reader into her mind. The honesty is brutal, but beautiful and necessary in order to tell her story meaningfully. 

            When in stream of consciousness Hornbacher uses short, choppy writing to illustrate fast-paced action and when in an introspective moment she switches to longer, eloquent sentences that are full of imagery used to describe her thoughts and emotions on a more vulnerable level. The use of profanity makes her writing very authentic and italics are used when emphasizing certain words, which helps put the reader in the moment.  Her style of writing displays vivid experiences of her disorder in order for the readers to get as close to feeling it for themselves as possible.

            I enjoyed each of the readers for what they have to offer and for the individualized choices they made to best tell their stories. Only Hornbacher’s is in present tense, which I thought was a great choice for her, making it more personal for the reader. The first two wouldn’t have benefitted from that and so I thought them being in past tense is well fitting. Swami’s writing has the essence of a song, with beautiful rhythm that is not found in the other writings. I liked the erraticism of Hornbacher’s writing; it is beneficial for painting the picture of her story. Kerasote’s writing style most resembles many of the books I’ve read in the past, yet his playfulness in perspective makes the story unique and interesting to follow. All of them use humor, which I personally appreciated, and incorporate dialogue that helps to keep a balanced flow. Each writer has an individual style with elements that I found captivating and worth adding to my own writing.