Susan Orlean's latest memoir, Joyride, is a captivating exploration of her extraordinary life, weaving together threads from various aspects of her existence. The New Yorker journalist has spent decades honing her craft, profiling celebrities, investigating cults, and chronicling the lives of the everyday. Her fascination lies in uncovering stories hidden in plain sight or unexpected revelations.
Orlean's writing is characterized by her curiosity and exacting nature, qualities she attributes to the art of origami, a skill she mastered years ago. "When we first met you said something to me I've never forgotten," she tells Robert Lang, a professional origami artist. The paper has a memory – that once folded, it can't be entirely removed. This phrase becomes a recurring theme in Joyride, reflecting Orlean's own experiences of folding and unfolding her life.
Over the course of four decades, Orlean has cultivated two distinct types of stories: those hidden in plain sight and those featuring unexpected revelations. Her memoir deftly navigates these narrative paths, skillfully extracting insights from both. Through a series of vignettes and personal anecdotes, she recounts her early days as a radio producer, covering the OrigamiUSA convention to capture the sounds of paper folding.
Orlean's writing process is akin to the fluid art of origami – ever-changing, yet with an inherent structure. She writes about the subjects that captivate her attention, from celebrities to nobodies, and delves into the intricacies of human experience. Her work has earned a reputation for its accessibility, as if she had somehow managed to capture the world's complexities in plain sight.
A significant aspect of Joyride revolves around Orlean's obsession with the nature of storytelling itself. She reflects on the writing life as one of constant creative reinvention – "you never build equity," she says. Her father, a businessman, once suggested she consider law school, but Orlean felt called to describe ordinary life in a way that revealed its complexity and poetry.
Joyride is an elegantly written memoir that showcases Orlean's unique storytelling voice. With each page turned, readers are transported into her extraordinary world of observation, curiosity, and creativity. This book serves as the liner notes to her remarkable career, reminding us that stories hidden in plain sight can often be the most profound revelations of all.
Orlean's writing is characterized by her curiosity and exacting nature, qualities she attributes to the art of origami, a skill she mastered years ago. "When we first met you said something to me I've never forgotten," she tells Robert Lang, a professional origami artist. The paper has a memory – that once folded, it can't be entirely removed. This phrase becomes a recurring theme in Joyride, reflecting Orlean's own experiences of folding and unfolding her life.
Over the course of four decades, Orlean has cultivated two distinct types of stories: those hidden in plain sight and those featuring unexpected revelations. Her memoir deftly navigates these narrative paths, skillfully extracting insights from both. Through a series of vignettes and personal anecdotes, she recounts her early days as a radio producer, covering the OrigamiUSA convention to capture the sounds of paper folding.
Orlean's writing process is akin to the fluid art of origami – ever-changing, yet with an inherent structure. She writes about the subjects that captivate her attention, from celebrities to nobodies, and delves into the intricacies of human experience. Her work has earned a reputation for its accessibility, as if she had somehow managed to capture the world's complexities in plain sight.
A significant aspect of Joyride revolves around Orlean's obsession with the nature of storytelling itself. She reflects on the writing life as one of constant creative reinvention – "you never build equity," she says. Her father, a businessman, once suggested she consider law school, but Orlean felt called to describe ordinary life in a way that revealed its complexity and poetry.
Joyride is an elegantly written memoir that showcases Orlean's unique storytelling voice. With each page turned, readers are transported into her extraordinary world of observation, curiosity, and creativity. This book serves as the liner notes to her remarkable career, reminding us that stories hidden in plain sight can often be the most profound revelations of all.
Orlean's writing is so captivating it makes you wanna fold your life into a paper crane too lol! Seriously though, I think what draws me to her work is how she finds magic in everyday moments. She's like a master of extracting the poetry from the mundane. That origami analogy is genius - once something's folded, it can't be entirely removed... just like our memories and experiences, they linger with us forever 
I'm so stoked for Susan Orlean's new memoir Joyride! 
She's always had this amazing ability to uncover stories that we never thought existed. Like, have you ever noticed how origami is like writing - once it's folded, it can't be the same again? That's what draws me to her work, I think. It's all about finding those hidden patterns and threads in life. And let's be real, who wouldn't want to read about a life spent profiling celebrities and investigating cults? 
The way she weaves these different storylines together is just masterful - it's like watching a puzzle come together! 
. As someone who loves reading about people's lives and experiences, I think she has an incredible gift for storytelling. I love how she says that stories hidden in plain sight can be the most profound revelations - it makes me think of all the times when something simple or ordinary turned out to be so much more than we expected 
. Her writing process sounds like a beautiful art form, like origami - ever-changing yet with an underlying structure 
I'm so inspired by Susan Orlean's story... it's like she's folding a beautiful origami paper with every word, and we get to see the intricate design unfold 
and I gotta say, it's a real page-turner! She has this amazing ability to find the fascinating stories in everyday life that we might otherwise overlook. It's like she's folding the world into a paper plane - you'd think it's simple on the surface but trust me, there are some deep folds happening here 