02359cam a2200313 i 4500 720004150 TxAuBib 20230323120000.0 221115s2023||||||||||||||||||||||||eng|u bl2023012598 9781982185855 HRD 28.00 1982185856 HRD 28.00 (OCoLC)1352474740 TxAuBib rda Smith, Maggie, 1934-, author. You could make this place beautiful : a memoir / Maggie Smith. First One Signal Publishers/Atria Books hardcover edition. New York : One Signal Publishers/Atria, 2023. 313 pages ; 24 cm. txt rdacontent n rdamedia nc rdacarrier “Life, like a poem, is a series of choices.” In her memoir You Could Make This Place Beautiful, poet Maggie Smith explores the disintegration of her marriage and her renewed commitment to herself in lyrical vignettes that shine, hard and clear as jewels. The book begins with one woman’s personal, particular heartbreak, but its circles widen into a reckoning with contemporary womanhood, traditional gender roles, and the power dynamics that persist even in many progressive homes. With the spirit of self-inquiry and empathy she’s known for, Smith interweaves snapshots of a life with meditations on secrets, anger, forgiveness, and narrative itself. The power of these pieces is cumulative: page after page, they build into a larger interrogation of family, work, and patriarchy. You Could Make This Place Beautiful, like the work of Deborah Levy, Rachel Cusk, and Gina Frangello, is an unflinching look at what it means to live and write our own lives. It is a story about a mother’s fierce and constant love for her children, and a woman’s love and regard for herself. Above all, this memoir is an argument for possibility. With a poet’s attention to language and an innovative approach to the genre, Smith reveals how, in the aftermath of loss, we can discover our power and make something new. Something beautiful. 20230401. jz. Smith, Maggie, 1977- Divorce. Divorced women Biography. Autobiographies.