Once Upon Another World

Blending memoir and social critique, elegantly written essays explore a world that feels different, from Brexit and Trump to #MeToo and the death of parents. This book merges memoir and social critique in an original fashion. By combining personal observations with a general systemic analysis, it seeks to propose a new genre of writing. Isabelle Graw manages to capture radical political, social, and cultural changes that have occurred since 2014 in elegantly written observations, also analyzing how these macro-shifts reach into her own life. Addressing topics that range from Brexit, Trump, and a general rightward turn to #MeToo, men with beards, and Balenciaga, Gaw registers the symptoms of a world that clearly feels different. Meditating on irretrievable personal losses, she describes how we find ourselves literally “in another world” after the death of our parents. With a theme of mourning running throughout, her book is an attempt at exposing and analyzing painful emotions.