Awards

• Long-listed for Wellcome Trust Book Prize 2018

Overview

In this astonishing memoir, the New York Times bestselling author of The Marriage Portrait and Hamnet shares the seventeen near-death experiences that have punctuated and defined her life. The childhood illness that left her bedridden for a year, which she was not expected to survive. A teenage yearning to escape that nearly ended in disaster. An encounter with a disturbed man on a remote path. And, most terrifying of all, an ongoing, daily struggle to protect her daughter from a condition that leaves her unimaginably vulnerable to life’s myriad dangers. Here, O’Farrell stiches together these discrete encounters to tell the story of her entire life. In taut prose that vibrates with electricity and restrained emotion, she captures the perils running just beneath the surface, and illuminates the preciousness, beauty, and mysteries of life itself.

Full Product Details

9780525436058

Table of Contents

Reviews

One of LitHub's 10 Best Essay Collections of the Decade Transfixing. . . . A mystical howl, a thrumming, piercing reminder of how very closely we all exist alongside what could have happened, but didn't. -The New York Times Book Review Heartbreaking, life-affirming, beautiful. . . . Taken together, these vignettes make up a sharply intimate portrait of what it is to be a person in a body-and in particular, a female body. -San Francisco Chronicle An extraordinary book, a reminder that while life has its limits and can be unpredictable, we should push against limitations and not give in to fear. -NPR A uniquely complete portrait of a life fully lived. . . . Its unconventional structure probes deep questions about the human condition, and it establishes a narrative that finds meaning and truth in life's chaos and randomness. -Entertainment Weekly Clever and poignant, thought provoking and deeply affective. -GOOP This intense, unsparing memoir is less about death than about chance, risk and the gift of another day. -People Magazine A pleasure to read. And, indeed, difficult to stop reading. . . . There are echoes of Virginia Woolf not just in the rhythm of the prose but also in its dreamlike immediacy. The effect, ingeniously, is of a life told through the gaps, those near misses, on the eluding of which the rest of life hangs. -The Wall Street Journal Where other writers may be playing with paper, O'Farrell takes up a bow and arrow and aims at the human heart. -The Guardian [A] breathtaking memoir. . . . The book O'Farrell was born to write. -Bustle We all have them, those experiences that are even more terrifying in retrospect than they were in the moment, but in this riveting memoir, O'Farrell has written hers down. . . . Her stories are harrowing, but the purpose of these essays is not to frighten. It is to affirm. -Minneapolis Star Tribune I Am, I Am, I Am is a gripping and glorious investigation of death that leaves the reader feeling breathless, grateful, and fully alive. Maggie O'Farrell is a miracle in every sense. I will never forget this book. -Ann Patchett A page-turner of a memoir. -Elle [O'Farrell] manages to relate all . . . without self-pity and in a tone that finds a balance between defiance and resilience. The revelatory journey that the author skillfully takes the reader on is also the path from youthful recklessness to a more judicious standpoint, later in life. -Santa Fe New Mexican A mesmerising read. -The Sunday Times (London) Intimate in all senses of the word-physically, psychologically, mentally, and emotionally. There is something truly generous about [O'Farrell's] style. . . . This is a memoir to be cherished. -The Rumpus Ingenious and original. . . . A rich celebration of every breath O'Farrell's taken. -The Independent [A] gloriously unconventional memoir. Maggie O'Farrell deconstructs our relationship to death by recounting the many times she's neared it. -Southern Living Striking and unexpected. -Kirkus Reviews

As Heard on Fresh Air Amazon's Best Picks for February I Am I Am I Am is a gripping and glorious investigation of death that leaves the reader feeling breathless, grateful, and fully alive. Maggie O'Farrell is a miracle in every sense. I will never forget this book. --Ann Patchett It takes a deft storyteller to alternate between charming and terrifying on the page but here it is, a set of linked stories that play with that most curious fact: that we experience life's joys and losses in the context of a mortal vessel. I would follow Maggie Farrell anywhere, even to the edge of death seventeen times. --Kelly Corrigan, New York Times bestselling author of The Middle Place, Glitter and Glue and Tell Me More Heart-stopping... Genius... Maggie O'Farrell turned 17 near-death experiences into a literary masterwork --Entertainment Weekly With stunning language and inventiveness, Maggie O'Farrell unpacks these moments...so brilliantly, uncovering in the particulars of each those shining, universal experiences, that they are a pleasure to read. And, indeed, difficult to stop reading... There are echoes of Virginia Woolf not just in the rhythm of the prose but also in its dreamlike immediacy. The effect, ingeniously, is of a life told through the gaps, those near misses, on the eluding of which the rest of life hangs. --The Wall Street Journal As its title suggests, [I Am, I Am, I Am's] pounding pulse is ultimately life-affirming. It's an extraordinary book, a reminder that while life has its limits and can be unpredictable, we should push against limitations and not give in to fear. It is also, like O'Farrell's seven intricately constructed, blissfully absorbing novels, full of surprises. --NPR This intense, unsparing memoir is less about death than about chance, risk and the gift of another day. --People Magazine A page-turner of a memoir . . . . O'Farrell describes in beautiful prose her many near-death experiences, at once demonstrating the fragility of life--and its preciousness. --Elle Magazine New and Noteworthy (March 2018) Gripping...this breathtaking memoir weaves together the author's near-death experiences to create a fully realized picture of what it means to fully live a life... O'Farrell's memoir contemplates not just the frailty of life, but the fortitude of the human spirit in the face of it all. --Bustle [I AM, I AM, I AM is] impossible to miss. --Paste / 10 of the Best Books of February Bold... clever and poignant, thought provoking and deeply affective. --Goop Her stories are harrowing, but the purpose of these essays is not to frighten. It is to affirm. She did not die; she lived through all of these experiences and now recounts each one in vivid, fully alive detail -- remembering the feeling of the wind in her hair, the roughness of the grass, the jolt of the plane, the sharpness of the machete. --Minneapolis-Star Tribune Not a single false moment...What makes this memoir so fine, so special, is not just the power of these brushes with death, but her examination of them...The book is quite intimate in all senses of the word--physically, psychologically, mentally, and emotionally. There is something truly generous about her style. Reading this memoir is like being taken further and further through the layers of a human life down to some mysterious core from which all meaning emanates. It shows us what it means to be vulnerably alive, to digest the seemingly indigestible fact of our mortality. This is a memoir to be cherished. --The Rumpus Astounding...awe-inspiring...a tour de force --Booklist, starred review Praise from the UK: A rich celebration of every breath O'Farrell has taken. --The Independent Where other writers may be playing with paper, O'Farrell takes up a bow and arrow and aims at the human heart. --The Times Extraordinary... uncomfortable and compelling - a page turner... Fluent, poised, packed with colourful details. Her prose seems invulnerable. It has the sheen of fiction. --Guardian, Book of the Month, August 2017 O'Farrell emerges as determined, loyal, fierce and stoic; not to be messed with... The message is that we must live in the moment, finding joy and freedom where we can, but O'Farrell writes so convincingly about the peril that each episode just serves as another detailed, technicolour reminder that we, and more terrifyingly, our loved ones, are only ever one bad decision, faulty choice or sliver of ill-fortune away from catastrophe. This is a mesmerising read. --Sunday Times O'Farrell has a compelling and arresting writing style that fills in a scene quickly and engagingly, to great dramatic and narrative effect... It is heady, engaging stuff - a bristling, rollercoaster of a read. --New Statesman Electric... Astonishing... Should be read by everyone... Affecting: wise, terrifying, vital and important... I can count on one hand the books that made me cry and still have two fingers spare. I Am, I Am, I Am is one of them. --Irish Times

Transfixing. . . . A mystical howl, a thrumming, piercing reminder of how very closely we all exist alongside what could have happened, but didn't. --The New York Times Book Review Heartbreaking, life-affirming, beautiful. . . . Taken together, these vignettes make up a sharply intimate portrait of what it is to be a person in a body--and in particular, a female body. --San Francisco Chronicle An extraordinary book, a reminder that while life has its limits and can be unpredictable, we should push against limitations and not give in to fear. --NPR A uniquely complete portrait of a life fully lived. . . . Its unconventional structure probes deep -questions about the human condition, and it establishes a narrative that finds meaning and truth in life's chaos and randomness. --Entertainment Weekly Clever and poignant, thought provoking and deeply affective. --GOOP This intense, unsparing memoir is less about death than about chance, risk and the gift of another day. --People Magazine A pleasure to read. And, indeed, difficult to stop reading. . . . There are echoes of Virginia Woolf not just in the rhythm of the prose but also in its dreamlike immediacy. The effect, ingeniously, is of a life told through the gaps, those near misses, on the eluding of which the rest of life hangs. --The Wall Street Journal Where other writers may be playing with paper, O'Farrell takes up a bow and arrow and aims at the human heart. --The Guardian [A] breathtaking memoir. . . . The book O'Farrell was born to write. --Bustle We all have them, those experiences that are even more terrifying in retrospect than they were in the moment, but in this riveting memoir, O'Farrell has written hers down. . . . Her stories are harrowing, but the purpose of these essays is not to frighten. It is to affirm. --Minneapolis Star Tribune I Am, I Am, I Am is a gripping and glorious investigation of death that leaves the reader feeling breathless, grateful, and fully alive. Maggie O'Farrell is a miracle in every sense. I will never forget this book. --Ann Patchett A page-turner of a memoir. --Elle [O'Farrell] manages to relate all . . . without self-pity and in a tone that finds a balance between defiance and resilience. The revelatory journey that the author skillfully takes the reader on is also the path from youthful recklessness to a more judicious standpoint, later in life. --Santa Fe New Mexican A mesmerising read. --The Sunday Times (London) Intimate in all senses of the word--physically, psychologically, mentally, and emotionally. There is something truly generous about [O'Farrell's] style. . . . This is a memoir to be cherished. --The Rumpus Ingenious and original. . . . A rich celebration of every breath O'Farrell's taken. --The Independent [A] gloriously unconventional memoir. Maggie O'Farrell deconstructs our relationship to death by recounting the many times she's neared it. --Southern Living Striking and unexpected. --Kirkus Reviews

One of LitHub's 10 Best Essay Collections of the Decade Transfixing. . . . A mystical howl, a thrumming, piercing reminder of how very closely we all exist alongside what could have happened, but didn't. --The New York Times Book Review Heartbreaking, life-affirming, beautiful. . . . Taken together, these vignettes make up a sharply intimate portrait of what it is to be a person in a body--and in particular, a female body. --San Francisco Chronicle An extraordinary book, a reminder that while life has its limits and can be unpredictable, we should push against limitations and not give in to fear. --NPR A uniquely complete portrait of a life fully lived. . . . Its unconventional structure probes deep questions about the human condition, and it establishes a narrative that finds meaning and truth in life's chaos and randomness. --Entertainment Weekly Clever and poignant, thought provoking and deeply affective. --GOOP This intense, unsparing memoir is less about death than about chance, risk and the gift of another day. --People Magazine A pleasure to read. And, indeed, difficult to stop reading. . . . There are echoes of Virginia Woolf not just in the rhythm of the prose but also in its dreamlike immediacy. The effect, ingeniously, is of a life told through the gaps, those near misses, on the eluding of which the rest of life hangs. --The Wall Street Journal Where other writers may be playing with paper, O'Farrell takes up a bow and arrow and aims at the human heart. --The Guardian [A] breathtaking memoir. . . . The book O'Farrell was born to write. --Bustle We all have them, those experiences that are even more terrifying in retrospect than they were in the moment, but in this riveting memoir, O'Farrell has written hers down. . . . Her stories are harrowing, but the purpose of these essays is not to frighten. It is to affirm. --Minneapolis Star Tribune I Am, I Am, I Am is a gripping and glorious investigation of death that leaves the reader feeling breathless, grateful, and fully alive. Maggie O'Farrell is a miracle in every sense. I will never forget this book. --Ann Patchett A page-turner of a memoir. --Elle [O'Farrell] manages to relate all . . . without self-pity and in a tone that finds a balance between defiance and resilience. The revelatory journey that the author skillfully takes the reader on is also the path from youthful recklessness to a more judicious standpoint, later in life. --Santa Fe New Mexican A mesmerising read. --The Sunday Times (London) Intimate in all senses of the word--physically, psychologically, mentally, and emotionally. There is something truly generous about [O'Farrell's] style. . . . This is a memoir to be cherished. --The Rumpus Ingenious and original. . . . A rich celebration of every breath O'Farrell's taken. --The Independent [A] gloriously unconventional memoir. Maggie O'Farrell deconstructs our relationship to death by recounting the many times she's neared it. --Southern Living Striking and unexpected. --Kirkus Reviews

Author Information

MAGGIE O'FARRELL was born in Northern Ireland in 1972. Her novels include Hamnet (winner of the National Book Critics Circle Award), After You’d Gone, The Vanishing Act of Esme Lennox, The Hand That First Held Mine (winner of the Costa Novel Award), and Instructions for a Heatwave. She has also written a memoir, I Am, I Am, I Am: Seventeen Brushes with Death. She lives in Edinburgh.

Tab Content 6

Customer Reviews

Recent Reviews

Countries Available