Individual • had enjoyed a deeply fulfilling marriage to Ghebreyesus. gratitude,” is not over. If only everyone were so lucky to have such a relationship at some point in their lives. . He was a talented painter with an MFA from the Yale School of Art, a gardener who planted “lush and romantic” trees for his wife, and an eloquent writer. . • . “The Light of the World” is her memoir of love and loss. But every formal decision feels well-executed; the placements have all the sense of an inevitable unfolding. A coincidentally meaningful pick for a Valentine's Day book group meeting. Grand Central Advertise . Reflecting with gratitude on the exquisite beauty of her married life that was, grappling with the subsequent void, and feeling a re-energized devotion to her two teenage sons, Alexander channels her poetic sensibilities into a rich, lucid prose that describes a very personal and yet universal quest for meaning, understanding, and acceptance. Using her medium of words, she illuminates and lyricizes the life of her mate—the painter and political refugee Ficre Ghebreyesus—and the shattering grief that follows his death at age 50. Submission Guidelines, © 1996-2020 BookPage and ProMotion, inc. | 2143 Belcourt Avenue, Nashville, TN 37212. . • She is also the author of a memoir, The Light of the World (2015) Alexander was born in Harlem, New York City. Find BookPage, About BookPage It flooded me with ineffable joy. In The Light of the World, Elizabeth Alexander finds herself at an existential crossroads after the sudden death of her husband.Channeling her poetic sensibilities into a rich, lucid prose, Alexander tells a love story that is, itself, a story of loss. Because so much of her poetry is personal or autobiographical in nature, her transition to memoir is seamless, guided by her passionate belief in the power of language, her determination to share her voyage of self-discovery with her boys, and her embrace of the principle that the unexamined life is not worth living. 9781455599875 • But nothing could have prepared me for the experience of reading “The Light of the World.” It riveted me, rent me, sent me reeling. This is the rare story about love and pain that resonates so hard with me. • This book is a memoir of Alexander's late husband who died suddenly just after his 50th birthday. “Painting was the miracle, the final act of defiance through which I exorcised the pain and reclaimed my sense of place, my moral compass, and my love for life.” “The Light of the World” is, quite simply, a miracle. It is a howl of protest, a lament for the dead, a hymn of praise, a song of love, a reminder of the splendor of what remains behind. • Alexander both describes and shares his art in her own book: One of his paintings adorns its cover, his writing is quoted extensively within, and many of his recipes are included. Reflecting with gratitude on the exquisite beauty of her married life that was, grappling with the subsequent void, and. Library . Unlock This Study Guide Now. For though nothing can bring Ficre back, her life with him, she discovers, with “joy overwhelming, and . I loved this book. Alexander creates an intimacy that coaxes a transformative empathy from her reader, and she rewards with a profound understanding of love and loss. can only call divine.” Alexander chooses just the right details to convey her husband in all his singularity and complexity: “He who believed in the lottery . . As a teenager, he fled Eritrea during its war for independence from Ethiopia and grew up to become a chef at the highly acclaimed Caffé Adulis, a New Haven restaurant that he founded with his brothers. . Finally, she moves her family from suburb to the city, not to flee memory’s hold in the house they all had shared, but to resume the plan the couple once had for their future. never met a child he didn’t enchant . This site uses cookies to deliver our services, improve performance, for analytics, and (if not signed in) for advertising. Elizabeth Alexander was born in Harlem, New York, but grew up in Washington, DC, the daughter of former United States Secretary of the Army and Equal Employment Opportunity Commission chairman, Clifford Alexander Jr. She holds degrees from Yale, Boston University, and the University of Pennsylvania, where she earned her PhD. . Ficre lived to exactly fifty, he who never did wrong and never told a single lie.” “He was not tired. Alexander's husband, Ficre, died suddenly and young. I can feel the love between these two and how losing Ficre so early would be intense even beyond the usual pain of losing a spouse. " This is heartbreaking, but also so, so beautiful. No current Talk conversations about this book. These comforting remainders—intensely sensual—carry her through that first aching year of widowhood. Download the entire issue for the Kindle or Nook. It's Elizabeth Alexander's story but it is all of our stories because it is about discovering what matters"--. This reminiscence is, as Alexander makes clear, “not a tragedy but rather a love story.” Alexander describes Ghebreyesus’s art as defined by “an unshakeable belief in beauty . In the spring of 1996, Alexander met Ghebreyesus in New Haven; it was “an actual coup de foudre, a bolt of lightning, love at first sight.” Engaged after a six-week courtship, they married, had two sons, and created a life together, filled with delicious food, jazz music, natural and man-made beauty, ebullient gatherings of family and friends. In THE LIGHT OF THE WORLD, Elizabeth Alexander--poet, mother, and wife--finds herself at an existential crossroads after the sudden death of her husband, who was just 49. References to this work on external resources. A prose elegy and love story told in a lyrical voice that carries the author and her readers across the difficult terrain from grief to consolation. Sign up for LibraryThing to find out whether you'll like this book. “The Light of the World” is divided into five sections with elliptical titles — “Honeycomb,” “Ghost of All Bookstores,” “The Plum Blossom’’ — and chapters that vary greatly in length, some only a sentence long. The love story of Lizzy and Ficre is so luminously beautiful and his death so painful that if it didn't hit you in your feelings, I don't understand how. You are an artist, and you need it — I will take the children to the orthodontist!” So vividly does Alexander bring this remarkable man to life that none of her wifely compliments, none of her admiration or adoration, seems undeserved. These days, Sylvia Plath is often considered part of the intense realm of the teenage girl. This beautifully written book is for anyone who has loved and lost. Digital Copyright LibraryThing and/or members of LibraryThing, authors, publishers, libraries, cover designers, Amazon, Bol, Bruna, etc. I am still surprised that my primary emotion when reading was not grief over Ficre's death, but happiness over knowing that such a man existed, that he found the perfect partner for him, and that they lived that experience with joy and vigor and generosity. In the poem she wrote for President Barack Obama’s 2009 inauguration, “Praise Song for the Day,” Elizabeth Alexander asked, “What if the mightiest word is love?” In The Light of the World, her memoir about the sudden death of her husband in 2012, the poet, essayist and playwright renders her own exquisite response. Winners. As she reflects on the beauty of her married life, the trauma resulting from her husband's death, and the solace found in Vulture's 100 Best Books of the 21st Century (So Far), Amazon's Best Books of the Month (April, 2015), Boston Globe Best Book (Nonfiction, 2015), Chicago Public Library Best of the Best Book List (Nonfiction, 2015), National Book Critics Circle Award finalist (Autobiography, 2015), Pulitzer Prize finalist (2016.4|Biography, 2016), NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Literary Work Nominee (Nonfiction, 2016). casts a widening pool of light.”. Without bitterness or rancor, Alexander underscores the unfairness of his passing: “Some who do evil live to a hundred. It's a book about love, even more than about death. This article was originally published in the May 2015 issue of BookPage. The Light of the World Elizabeth Alexander Review by Priscilla Kipp. . Biography & Memoir . Start your 48-hour free trial to unlock this The Light of the World study guide and get instant access to the following:. Privacy Policy Four days after his 50th birthday party, Elizabeth Alexander’s husband, Ficre Ghebreyesus, dropped dead of a heart attack while exercising on a home treadmill. The family’s loss, the impact on their wider family and community, and her slow recovery are entwined with her memories and her dreams of Fiche sending her loving messages. May 2015. As a former Yale professor, a poetry lover, and a memoirist of loss myself, I expected to like Alexander’s book. Bookstore / By using LibraryThing you acknowledge that you have read and understand our, " In THE LIGHT OF THE WORLD, Elizabeth Alexander--poet, mother, and wife--finds herself at an existential crossroads after the sudden death of her husband, who was just 49. . . This gentle, sad, glowing retelling of their luck in love is so touching and maybe, for those who have lost a spouse, comforting balm to reread again and again. / So rich and colorful was their relationship that a relative once exclaimed: “Your life is just like a foreign film!”. 04/21/2015, Nonfiction loved to wear the color pink.” He was “beautiful, and utterly without vanity,” “a profoundly peaceful and peace-loving person, forged in the crucible of war.”. • Ghebreyesus was an exceedingly courageous, curious, and creative person. the bursting, indelible beauty in a world where there is so much suffering and wounding and pain.” Her book is a fitting enactment of that same faith, braced by and against and for the world, for all its wounds and wonders. . . He is still with her, still in conversation with her, still visiting her in dreams, still teaching her, influencing her, loving her: “I walk forward knowing I was loved, and therefore am loved.”. 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