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Singing All the Verses: Essays from a Mid-American by Peg Guilfoyle

“I have long been a person who sings all the verses.” So begins the resonant Singing All The Verses: Essays from a Mid-American by Peg Guilfoyle. Her story is fascinating. She was always a free spirit, drifting around the West in her twenties as well as living “the customary wandering theater life for seven years, working here, working there, like so many others,” but eventually settling down to raise a family on a farm in Minnesota.

An established writer of books about regional history and theater, Guilfoyle now embarks on a new project: telling her own story. She does so in six “verses,” each containing assorted essays. Verse I, “Looking at the Arts,” finds her antiquing, and she finds a gorgeous old opera book while somehow making the activity sound like the most wondrous excursion conceivable. 

Next, the author climbs a hill and reads a plaque dedicated to Harriet Hosmer, a sculptress who won a race to the top in 1851. The next few months of Guilfoyle’s young life are devoted to Harriet and researching her story, uncovering a treasure trove of fascinating, empowering details. 

Moving on, she discloses her time working in theatre, during which Patrick Stewart, onstage weddings and various productions of Shakespeare all make appearances. She gives us a special glimpse into the real world of live performance, with all its absurdities, oddities and magical occurrences. These sentences are precious opportunities for the reader to live vicariously through years of backstage experiences. 

THE PAST IS A TREASURE

She begins Verse II, “Looking Back,” with a glistening mediation and memorial of Christmas past, setting a scene of coziness and security. It’s sensitively written, as lovely to read as it is to curl up with a blanket and cup of cocoa in front of the tree on Christmas Eve. The tree is, in fact, the centerpiece of the essay, the “Bubble Tree” whose name stems from … well I won’t spoil it. 

Next, unearthing her grandfather’s letters breathes more poignancy into the book. Guilfoyle offers, yet again, a fascinating glimpse into a life we are far from living ourselves, a life peppered with policemen who ride horses while streetcars go by. Another commanding figure is Uncle Tex, who warrants the reflection: 

“You can learn so much from family history. Our ancestors are not stiffly posed, elaborately hatted cardboard cutouts, no matter what the pictures look like. They were people! And some of them were like my great uncle Tex Condon, abducted from his own wedding reception by shooting, howling horsemen, ninety years ago this very day in the streets of decorous downtown St. Paul.” 

From there she launches into the story, and it’s just as wacky as promised. Considering how interesting her stories are, it’s no surprise that the one about her now-husband’s proposal is a delight. 

HONORING BOTH CHILDREN’S ANTICS AND SOCIETY’S WOUNDS

Verse III, “Raising Children,” reveals her growing son’s noble attempts to pronounce increasingly complicated words, her seven-year-old daughter’s bequest for a “hot lunch” as opposed to the run-of-the-mill PB&J, and her eight-year-old son’s recommendation for his mother to purchase a “Sex Dress.” With Guilfoyle penning them, they become something like poetry. 

Meanwhile, our next verse, curiously titled “Civic Discourse,” analyzes some “public affairs of the nation,” but with a humility that’s refreshing and, of course, the author’s typical way with words. The American flag, confusion around feminism, the muddling of church and state, and more — these become occasions for reasoned yet provocative contemplation. A story about “Nora’s Flag” proves moving and extremely affecting. Nothing, it seems, is a throwaway moment for Peg Guilfoyle and shouldn’t be for us. 

ALL IN A LIFE’S WORK

The penultimate verse, “Incidentals and Pleasures,” may seem utterly random at first glance; how can an essay about “How to Watch High School Basketball” really be a great read? But the author compiles a genuine list of instructions and ways to pass the time with such genuine humor that it’s actually a highlight of this collection. 

But then again, aren’t they all? It’s nearly impossible to choose a favorite, and the humor itself is just one of the joys of this clever little book. Finally, “This I Believe” was admittedly a struggle for the author to write. Assigned to give a speech to a spiritual community, Guilfoyle delivers a creed of her own, and it’s the perfect way to close. As she says earlier in the narrative, “The things I have loved, I have loved long. And they do weave together into a life.” And what a rich life Guilfoyle has led, finding powerful lessons and moments of levity in the details of everyday life.

Singing All the Verses is available on the author’s website and Amazon, or support the author’s favorite indie bookstores: SubText Booksellers (St. Paul), Magers and Quinn Booksellers (Minneapolis and online), or Lake Country Booksellers (White Bear Lake, MN).

 

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Singing All the Verses: Essays from a Mid-American by Peg Guilfoyle
Publish Date: 2020
Genre: Memoir, Nonfiction
Author: Peg Guilfoyle
ISBN: 9780982446800
Judy Moreno

Judy Moreno is the Assistant Editor at BookTrib and sincerely loves the many-splendored nature of storytelling. She earned a double major in English and Theatre from Hillsdale College after a childhood spent reading (and rereading) nearly everything at the local library. Some of her favorite novels include Catch-22, Anna Karenina, and anything by Jane Austen. She currently lives in Virginia and is delighted to be on the BookTrib team.

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