Book cover of Run Towards the Danger: Confrontations with a Body of Memory

Book description

“A visceral and incisive collection of six propulsive personal essays.” – Vanity Fair

*A New York Times Book Review Editors' Choice*Named a Most-Anticipated Book of 2022 by Entertainment Weekly, Lit Hub, and AV Club*

Oscar-nominated screenwriter, director, and actor Sarah Polley’s Run Towards the Danger explores memory and the dialogue…

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Why read it?

5 authors picked Run Towards the Danger as one of their favorite books. Why do they recommend it?

I picked this up after watching Polley's film "Women Talking", which had one of the sharpest scripts I'd encountered in many years. In this memoir she tackles some incredibly difficult subject matter with a keen eye and some remarkably profound observations. These essays cover a wide range of topics including the dangers of children working in the film industry, trauma, fame, childbirth and recovering from severe injury. The prose is so clear and incisive, and her insight into the darker aspects of the film industry is truly revealing and insightful.

I found Sarah Polley's unflinching honesty and vulnerability very moving.

I loved Sarah Polley's voice. Vulnerable, open, and always honest. It's difficult to dive into one's youth and see the love and the damage that well-meaning humans can do to each other.

This story also brings us to Sarah's insight and winsome that is constantly reflected in the resilient woman she became... That she had to become to survive her show biz family, the pressure of being a pretty child actress, costly being told/often manipulated into doing what she inherently didn't want to do an then all made worse as she became a desirable young woman. Her strength and intelligence…

If you love Run Towards the Danger...

Book cover of These Blue Mountains

These Blue Mountains by Sarah Loudin Thomas,

A moving story of love, betrayal, and the enduring power of hope in the face of darkness.

German pianist Hedda Schlagel's world collapsed when her fiancé, Fritz, vanished after being sent to an enemy alien camp in the United States during the Great War. Fifteen years later, in 1932, Hedda…

This book narrates many kinds of trauma but the essay on sexual assault is worth buying the book.

A Canadian actor, director, and writer, Polley recounts her three-decade-long silence about Jian Ghomeshi, the hip, popular host of a hit CBC talk show. She moves from the ’90s to 2017, zeroing in on her flickering memories of assault, her reluctance to speak about it, her examination of that reluctance, her interrogation of other women in her situation, of lawyers, and her thoughts about it now.

It begins when she is outed on Twitter: “Wonder why Sarah Polley never spoke out…

From Helen's list on healing from sexual trauma.

As if she were a forensic investigator, Sarah Polley digs deep into the many traumas that shaped her life exponentially from the scoliosis that brought about many surgeries she endured from childhood onward, along with the death of her beloved mother at a young age to becoming a mother in her own right, a surefooted story-teller, director and as always a gifted actress. Her collection of stunningly written essays made me want to protect her from herself and from the many others that profited from her being a child star: Carrying the daunting lead role of Alice-in-Wonderland, doubting her talent,…

If you love Run Towards the Danger...

Book cover of These Blue Mountains

These Blue Mountains by Sarah Loudin Thomas,

A moving story of love, betrayal, and the enduring power of hope in the face of darkness.

German pianist Hedda Schlagel's world collapsed when her fiancé, Fritz, vanished after being sent to an enemy alien camp in the United States during the Great War. Fifteen years later, in 1932, Hedda…

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