Review: Meg Remy - 'Begin By Telling'

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Meg Remy is an artist who is part of U.S. Girls. She lists Riot grrrl and Crass as influences. This shows in this short book (96 pages) which is an experimental trip through notions and experiences in North America.

[...] we catch glimpses of Desert Storm, the Oklahoma City Bombing, random street violence, the petrochemical industry, small town Deadheads, a toilet with uterus lining in it, the county STD clinic, and missionaries at the front door. Each is shared through language of the body; the sensation of experiencing many of the defining events and moments of a country.

Publisher's info

Some of Remy's prose is lovely stream-of-consciousness:

No, no, no. It’s Desert Storm, one s. OR Choices! Operation Desert Shield, The Gulf War, Persian Gulf War, The 1st Gulf War, Gulf War I, First Iraq War, Kuwait War. OR A triple series ofTopps playing cards, exactly like the sports cards boys have binders full of. Series 1 – Coalition for Peace Series 2 – Victory Series Series 3 – Homecoming Edition Finally, memorabilia I can understand. I shuffle through them like they’re part of some memory matching game. Daddy’s Home, Carpet Bombing, Stopping the Oil’s Flow…

Other fragments are so tiny that it's nearly impossible to shake how hyperkinetic this book is:

*Monica Lewinsky’s internship was unpaid.

The book follows me slightly, and some of its phrases slip into my conscious and are interesting; Other bits of information quickly fall to the wayside.

This is a laudable and brief effort; I wish there had been more focus on the content, which would undoubtedly have weaved a more comprehensive story than this book.

On the other hand, it is more interesting than a lot of memoirs that often leave me with boring interludes. This book is not boring, no matter how you turn it, and that is, in itself, a short storm of fresh air.