Make It Scream, Make It Burn: Essays by Leslie Jamison

Make It Scream, Make It Burn:  Essays by Leslie Jamison      272 pages

I loved the stories told her served up as essays.    The reader will be captivated by the telling as well as the actual topics like 52 Blue, the whale who's songs carry through the ocean waters of his travels at such loud decibels, the other whales avoid him so the author portrays him as being the loneliest whale in the world and elicits sympathy for this dear creature who tries so hard to find a friend or mate but whom other like creatures find so off-putting they do not venture to know him.    Leslie Jamison takes the reader along with her so seamlessly that you go from topic to topic to topic like caramel topping on an ice cream sunday, so smooth and good and you love the taste and feel of her words in your mind.   They search out something within the reader, a deep emotional center an empathy that is so strong it is tangible,  whether eloping in Las Vegas, describing the past lives of children alive today who cry real tears as they relay memories and names of friends killed during WWII, etc.    She reminds me a little of Joan Didion, someone who can start off in one place and end up miles away in story genre and you aren't tired from the trip but enjoyed the ride.   That is this book.   Try it, you will enjoy the ride.    I recommend this book of lovely stories to anyone old enough to read and old enough to want to experience serenity.