Book: Sounds Like Titanic: A Memoir

Author: Jessica Chiccehitto Hindman

Year: 2019

So this is an interesting book about a musician that takes a gig as a violinist for a traveling show.

Writing in 2nd person was always something I enjoyed using for my shorter stories, so it was a pleasant surprise to see it used in this book. It’s so rare to see! Personally, I always used it to create an air of immersion for readers. I like to induce tension for my readers. I like drama and suspense. The reason I used 2nd person was because I wanted the reader to feel like they were plopped right in the middle of the action. You feel this way. Why? Because I wrote that you do (LOL).

At the same time, it was really odd to read Hindman’s reason for using 2nd person because it was so different from my own. She’s using “you” to indicate that her (the writer) reality felt like a fiction; I used “you” to try to convince the reader that the fiction was a reality. I think my prior mindset made it hard for me to engage with the story. I was reading it with my mindset of what “you” meant, but that meant that I was trying to become her (does that make sense?) My reality is very different from Hindman’s, so trying to put myself in her shoes, especially knowing that these events really happened, really wasn’t working. Once again, it seems like my sticking point is the non-fiction part of CNF. I think I’m going to need to reflect more on what she’s trying to achieve with her “you” to better engage with this work.

More to come next week as I read more. Why don’t you read with me!