All These Wonders

The Moth Presents: All These Wonders: True Stories About Facing the Unknown

For 20 years, The Moth Radio Hour has been inviting some of the most creative minds of the time to tell their stories to audiences.  While the tradition of oral storytelling and oral history is paramount to our live and stories, if they are not captured and preserved they can lose or change meaning with each retelling, or worse, be lost to time forever.  Sadly, though, many stories told aloud do not always translate well to the written word.  Not so with this collection.  Mining twenty years and untold number of hours, of podcasts (or their predecessors) forty-five stories are presented here for readers to enjoy and listen to.  As with any diverse audience, each person’s experience will be their own, though reading is often a solitary endeavor and the shared experience of others is missed; however, this collection lends itself to a discussion group whether read in its entirety or each piece used as a springboard for discussion, such as for a Socrates Café.  Emmy winning actor John Turturro tells a story about a blackout in New York City which becomes a short history of his family and familial love.  Best-selling author Meg Wolitzer describes her time at a summer camp where she meets Martha a woman with whom she still remains friends.  A man faces a kidney transplant, a mother deals with her daughter not only coming out to her but then learning her daughter is also transgender; the mother must now recognize and acknowledge her feelings, her daughter’s feelings, but also how she views her family and even herself as a mother and woman.  A musician muses on his life in foster homes, away from his parents who drank heavily until he meets the one person who changes his life.  First love, favorite childhood toys, or transformative journeys are all contained within these short vignettes, glimpses of an everyday life event that because extra ordinary because we talked about it.

FTC Disclaimer: I received this book from the Blogging for Books program in exchange for this review.