Nancy Slonim Aronie has written lively and engaging essays that serve as fine examples to the Seven Secrets to the Perfect Personal Essay. Each chapter also features essays by her students as further enlightening illustrations of the seven crafting secrets—now, no longer secret!
Personal essays are written from the author’s personal perspective and experience. They’re reflective in nature and use personal stories, anecdotes, and memories.
In her chapter “Revising and Repurposing,” Aronie includes four versions of her essay entitled “My Midlife Crisis (Midlife Is 83, Right?).” This evolution of an essay will be particularly useful for readers aspiring to write their own personal essays.
The first version Aronie wrote for her column in the Martha’s Vineyard Times. The editor let her know that “essays should have more substance, information, and quotes,” so she went back to the drawing board and came up with Version 2. She makes note of the Boston Celtics, and then in Version 3 of her essay includes her brother-in-law Mart, a “Celtics diehard,” who had died. The essay in its final version “became a hugely helpful step in my grieving process,” she says.
Version 4 is shorter as it was written for a radio show with a shorter minimum word count. It’s fascinating to observe the insight that can be gained while working through one’s story. While she didn’t want to return to watching the games without her late brother-in-law, Aronie realized she needed to feel her broken heart, return to the team, and “scream on Mart’s behalf.”
Secret One is “Start with a Compelling First Statement.” In each of the chapters, Aronie gives her take on the first student essay that’s included in that particular chapter.
There are also writing prompts following each essay. For Secret Two, “Introduce a Dramatic Scene,” the prompt that follows “Tangier, 1969” by Ellenora Cage is: “Write an early, early memory.” The memories of the author in the sample essay go back to when she was two years old.
Secret Three is “Discover and Reveal a New Insight about Yourself.” Aronie can be counted on for humor, and following one of the essay examples, “Keys to a Happily-Ever-After Divorce,” the prompt is “Write a happy divorce piece. Make it up if you must.”
Secret Four is “Be Vulnerable.” In her essay example, Aronie writes about her late sister and says if they hadn’t resolved “our thing, my heart would have two gashes instead of just the one.”
“Direct quotes are my direct line into the voice of the piece,” Aronie says in Secret Five, “Use Direct Quotes.”
Secret Six is “Incorporate the Three-Part Narrative,” which refers to setting the stage with an intro, developing the main points, and summarizing with a satisfying closure or “ tantalizing cliff-hanger.”
“Explore a Universal Theme” is Secret Seven. The example Aronie comments on is “The City I Ride In” by fifteen-year-old Naomi Beinart. The essay is short at a page and a half and yet powerful with the vulnerability expressed and the question we could all ponder: “When I keep my distance, am I protecting myself or protecting my privilege?”
Nancy Slonim Aronie in her down-to-earth style has embraced all the “secrets,” turning darkness into light. She encourages people to write personal essays “as a way of addressing your past struggles—the hurts, the slights, the slices to your perfect heart. This will empower you to remember, re-member, return, re-turn, to your compassionate self, your true nature.”