Recollections of My Non-Existence

Solnit taught me that activism is poetic. Her prose as clear and galvanising as it is beautiful. In 'Recollections of my Non-Existence' she takes us through the dreams and dark corners of her life. Each passage a revelation, both idiosyncratic and universal, as she examines the everyday violence of inhabiting a female body, and the everyday erasure that occurs in our society. Unflinching she lights the way, holding up her experience, her insight, that others might find her, and find hope -- Florence Welch
Spare, yet lyrical, Solnit's memoir is a powerful portrait of the artist as a young woman. She stumbles, she suffers, she wanders and deviates. She works and works some more. Somehow she arrives at a singular voice that is heard by millions, including the mansplainers she so precisely named. Solnit's voice is 'audible, credible, and consequential'. It is also brilliant and shapes the ways in which women today see, all the while enabling them to speak out -- Lisa Appignanesi
A writer of startling freshness and precision * New York Times *
Solnit is a resource [...] of hope and guidance in turbulent times * Newsweek *
Rebecca Solnit's opposition to injustice in its many forms, and her relentless inquiry as a writer and reporter into a great range of issues - racial injustice, nuclear weapons, indigenous rights, male hegemony- have defined the outrage and politics of much of her generation. In Recollections of My Nonexistence she draws all these potent metaphors for inequity together into a moral stance that transcends the particulars of all her topics. This is a remarkable book - smart, brave, edgy, insightful, and authentic -- Barry Lopez
Beautifully written... Brilliant * Psychologies *
A deeply-considered exploration of consciousness and the mutability of selfhood... generous in the breadth of its ideas, and generative in the clarity of its arguments * Irish Times *
Solnit's book has some great moments of observation and some very fine writing... brilliant ... terrific * Guardian *
A valuable glimpse into the grit and courage that enabled [Solnit] to keep telling sidelined stories when the forces opposing her seemed monolithic * Observer *
An inspiration to women * Financial Times *
Recollections of my Non-Existence is both the story of where we've been and a celebration of how far we've come * Telegraph *
Tangential, changeable, deeply feminist, and imbued with a sense of hope that undercuts her wild anger at the world's injustices... a wonderful book * Arts Desk *
Solnit produces great life writing... Recollections of My Non-Existence is hopeful, as is characteristic of Solnit's feminism... I started this book thinking I'd like to meet Solnit; halfway through I imagined buying her memoir for each of my students. I finished by wanting to nail her book to the door of parliament... this memoir is as much an achievement as the rest of her career has been thus far * Literary Review *
The Rebecca Solnit book I have been waiting for... [Solnit's] writes with the clarity of a seer and the scope of a visionary. We are all the richer for her dazzling ability to conjure her existence into being * Spectator *
A book of gorgeous revelation * In the Moment *
A wonderful memoir of nostalgia, lost places, and (most of all) what it means to become a "woman-with-a-voice". It's so expertly crafted that all you speed readers who skipped through it would miss out on most of the pleasure -- Mary Beard * TLS *
A resonant and moving portrait of how challenging life can be in the female body -- Best 100 Books of the Year * Time Magazine *