JUST A GLIMPSE

Corey’s collection of pithy personal essays articulates an octogenarian’s full and compassionate worldview.

The author, a retired psychiatric nurse who later earned a graduate degree in fine arts and took up writing, is approaching her 80s. She’s married to her second husband and is the mother of two adult children. Corey now lives in San Diego County after growing up in Vermont and spending many happy years in Colorado. Those facts don’t tell her story very well—thankfully, these personal essays do. This collection serves as her memoir, beginning with reflections on childhood memories that shine with specific details. The author’s happy family didn’t have vast financial resources, but they did have strong roots (generations of them) in Vermont, a “goodly heritage” that she and her sister chose to acknowledge with the inscription for their father’s headstone. Some of the essays focus on topics that will resonate strongly with older readers, such as “The Doll Crib,” in which Corey considers the role of possessions at life’s end; readers of a certain age will also relate to her observations about her favorite tune, “Rainbow Connection” from The Muppet Movie (“Why are there so many / Songs about rainbows?”). A section titled “Life at the U-Turn,” in which the author firmly faces what comes after midlife, raising a family, and building a career, will strike chords with women at similar points in their lives. In the next section, “The Ice of Hate and Fear,” Corey movingly details her personal experience of the global pandemic and discusses her responses to the tragic events that happened in the United States during those years of separation, alienation, and racism, like the murder of George Floyd; the author endeavored to become antiracist (as opposed to simply an ally) and to cultivate hope in a world beset by unsustainable consumption practices. The writing is forthright and plain but also sparely elegant and full of meaning, much like the American West the author has learned to love—not by giving up on the color green, but by “learn[ing] to love the color red.”

Piercing details, real wisdom, and gentle hope make this collection a standout.