First published 2014
Valeria Luiselli rides her bicycle through city streets as evening falls. She walks the narrow passages of Venice, hunting for the grave of poet Joseph Brodsky. She opens cardboard boxes in a new home, sorting through the objects that define her life. In these linked essays, Luiselli treats urban spaces as texts to be read. She finds questions lurking in the architecture around her. Her wandering mind connects the physical act of moving through cities with the mental work of understanding them. She excavates meaning from sidewalks and bridges the way an archaeologist uncovers pottery shards. The book captures a restless intelligence that refuses to stay put, always searching for the stories that cities tell about the people who inhabit them.
Genres: essays, literary-fiction, non-fiction, 21st-century, architecture, cities
Vibes: intimate, lyrical, thought-provoking
Tropes: introspective, literary-exploration
Setting: Venice, City Streets
Period: Evening
ebook · Coffee House Press