I consider it a mark of true bravery when a well-known person writes a memoir and does so in his or her own words without a ghostwriter (yes, celebs, we’re looking at you). Jami Attenberg, whose novel THE MIDDLESTEINS was a huge success, offers us a peek into her life, her process, and the intriguing but difficult march from fledgling artist to dyed-in-the-wool writer who was following what really was her absolutely proper path in life. She has put pen to paper in order to explore her growth as an artist and as a human, what she has given up, and all that she has gained from this journey.

“I had been hiding myself, even though I was living a much more public existence. The more I put myself out there in the world --- touring, talking, meeting people, being interviewed --- the less I felt in my body. When I travel too much, I get stuck…. I used up all my adrenaline on getting there. I was somehow both in motion and stagnant.”

"I CAME ALL THIS WAY TO MEET YOU is the story of someone for whom writing has always been a lifeline.... To meet Jami Attenberg on this journey is a delightful and compelling experience."

Reading these words, I feel jealous. Who wouldn’t want to be on a book tour, talking about your “art” to people, especially these days when a jaunt to Target counts as a road trip? But when you read the rest of her memories --- from sitting in a café in Brooklyn reading Patti Smith’s first memoir, to life as a young author on tour, to 9/11 in New York --- you realize that her “trips” were not just going from place to place, but her own heart and mind leveling up to the new worlds that she continued to force herself into. The journey to “adulting” via Attenberg is a hard-hewn itinerary that includes heartbreak and loneliness, while she tried to answer the questions of her own purpose, what mortality means to her, and why we are all here on this revolving mass of water and soil.

Memoirs should include the life of the mind of the writer, as well as the actual timeline of his or her experiences. Ghost sightings, children’s playthings, historical anecdotes about places she’s been: Attenberg finds every moment of her journey to be a learning opportunity --- how it made her feel, how it changed her. Anything and everything that made her a better writer also tended to make her a better person. And maybe that is the real heart of this memoir.

I CAME ALL THIS WAY TO MEET YOU is the story of someone for whom writing has always been a lifeline. It was a literal lifeline to overcoming anxiety, to (sometimes) making enough money to live, to doing something other than temping to stay fed and healthy. My husband’s departed best friend used to say that he thought real artists would never use their art to make money to live. I think Attenberg (and most of us writers out there) would find that an impossible statement to comprehend. Isn’t the point of life to understand why we’re here and what we do, and aren’t we supposed to offer our talents to others while we’re here to make a better world? Yes, Attenberg would say. Absolutely.

That is what makes this heartfelt memoir such an engaging read. It takes so much hard work and effort to be a writer in this world. The book talks about the importance of reading, the recognition that someone else’s hard-earned artistic exports can change your life --- both as an artist and as a person. Isn’t it all connected anyway? The answer is a resounding yes.

Attenberg quotes sculptor Louise Bourgeois after being blown away by an exhibition of her work: “The artist has been given a gift. This word comes back all the time. It is the gift of being at ease with your unconscious and trusting it. It is the ability immediately to short-circuit the conscious and to have direct access to the deeper perceptions of the unconscious. This is a gift because such awareness is useful, allowing you to know yourself, especially your limitations.”

That, dear readers, is exactly what I CAME ALL THIS WAY TO MEET YOU is all about. To meet Jami Attenberg on this journey is a delightful and compelling experience.