Richards, Marguerite. The Ordinary Chaos of Being Human: True Stories. Soul-baring Moments. No Apologies. Leave It Better Books, 2024.
Reason read: As a member of the Early Review program for LibraryThing, I sometimes get to review interesting and thought-provoking books. This is one such book.
Right off the bat, I have to draw attention to something both Bina Shah and Marguerite Richards wrestled in the beginning of Ordinary Chaos: the conundrum of whether or not to draw attention to the Muslim voice. Between the foreword and introduction the word “Muslim” is written almost forty times and yet Shah toyed with removing it. The concept of being Muslim matters but Shah and Richards were conflicted about its place and purpose within Ordinary Chaos. It is the point of the book despite the contrary challenge put forth to the reader: do not see these authors as one religion or another; see them as human without any other label. I would argue that in order to do that one must tell the story without the identifiers, only reveal them at the end; only then ask if the detail really mattered to the tenor and tone of the message. Otherwise, the connection to a religious or cultural belief does matter to the success of the story. For example, stories such as “Those Eyes of Hers” could be told by anyone. The concept of letting go of a drug that had been a security blanket or a crutch for an ailment that didn’t exist. The human connection is there regardless of religion, gender or sexual orientation, or economic status. When we are taken out of our comfort zones we truly learn about ourselves and that is called growth.
Some of the stories will fill you with nostalgia for an irreplaceable time. Some will leave you inexplicably sad. I could not read Ordinary Chaos for very long. I still have a third of the book to read.
As an aside, do not be overwhelmed by the number of pages of Ordinary Chaos. In the electronic version there was at least a blank page or two between each story. Every story is incredibly short.
Book trivia: before each story Richards provides a short biography. The Ordinary Chaos of Being Human was first published in 2019 by Penguin Random House.
Playlist: Metallica, Michael Jackson, Googoosh, Sin Dios, “Elephant Love Medley”, “Young Folks” by Peter Bjorn & John,
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