The Book of Beginnings and Endings

by Jenny Boully

“Jenny is the future of nonfiction in America. What an absurdly arrogant statement to make. I make it anyway. Watch.”—John D’Agata

“Yes, Aristotle, there can be pleasure without ‘complete and unified action with a beginning, middle, and end.’ Jenny Boully has done it.”—Mary Jo Bang

A book with only beginnings and endings, all invented. Jenny Boully opens and closes more than fifty topics ranging from physics and astronomy to literary theory and love. A brilliant statement on interruption, impermanence, and imperfection.

Jenny Boully is the author of The Body: An Essay and [one love affair]*. Born in Thailand, she currently divides her time between Texas and Brooklyn.

Genres: Poetry, Essays, Nonfiction

128 pages, Paperback

First published November 1, 2007

About the author

Jenny Boully is the author of four books, most recently not merely because of the unknown that was stalking toward them (Tarpaulin Sky Press). Her other books include The Books of Beginnings and Endings (Sarabande Books), [one love affair]* (Tarpaulin Sky Press), and The Body: An Essay (Essay Press, first published by Slope Editions). Her chapbook of prose,Moveable Types, was released by Noemi Press. Her work has been anthologized in The Best American Poetry, The Next American Essay, Great American Prose Poems: From Poe to the Present, and other places. Born in Thailand, she was reared in Texas by parents who farm and fish. She attended Hollins University, where she double majored in English and philosophy and then went on to earn her MA in English Criticism and Writing. At the University of Notre Dame, she earned an MFA with a poetry concentration. She earned a Ph.D. in English from the Graduate Center of the City University of New York. She lives in Chicago, Illinois with her husband and daughter and teaches at Columbia College Chicago.

Reviews

[Joseph · Rating 1 out of 5]

Deeply pretentious piffle.

[Jordyn Damato · Rating 4 out of 5]

“i alone know that the cause of plate tectonics is humanity’s collective yearning, the desire to fit in.”

[Matt · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is really quite a wonderful little book-- like the title says, and which I didn't really for the first ten or so pages, this is a series of alternating beginnings and endings-- so the odd numbered pages are the first page of something (an essay, whatever that means) and the even numbered pages are the last page of an unrelated essay (see above). So we've got textbooks, sort of, about invertabrate life, and rules for odd modes and cases in Greek grammar (odd to me, at least) and then more memoirish fragments, or moments of literary criticism of Nabokov, for example.

There are symbol clusters-- luna moths, for example-- that recur in different sections, characters, including a poet named Abouille which I finally tried to say out loud and realized was a pun on the author's name, who recur in different guises; explorations of loss, it will surprise no one who has read Boully elsewhere, are common, but they felt a little less overwrought here than elsewhere: instead of the content behind a screen as in [One love affair], it is a filter to drag in weird fragments of the world.

In the end, I don't know what all these fragmentary pieces are leading toward, but boy did I like this enough to make me want to read it again in six months to try to find out.

[Rachel · Rating 5 out of 5]

Really a beautiful book, though it frustrated me similarly to Hejinian's My Life in its breaking of expectations of what makes a story. What makes something whole. Can we really find the beginnings and endings of any piece here? Where does any work begin? The spontaneous accident or creation of the universe, authors before us, our parents, their parents, our own consciousness and memory, age 3 onward? Where can we find our endings, in our deaths, or do we outlive ourselves until we are forgotten, until the universe is again spontaneously forgotten? Boully creates herself a middle, a connection between all of these beginnings and endings. Words and phrases and formatting that weaves itself through such disjunctions of subject. Every part is forever stuck in its own state of being.

Really fascinating, with beautiful language. Not for days where you question your own existence (unless you're into that sort of thing).

[Kasey Jueds · Rating 5 out of 5]

So many people have already written about the form of this book, which is definitely one of the most striking and lovely things about it. And there are other striking, lovely things as well: the language (so many sentences and phrases to linger over, so many that jumped off the page at me), the deep emotional life of these pieces (not really sure what to call them? poems, essays, fragments?). The form does so much to make what might be sentimental, in a "regular" essay or poem, NOT that... and this book kept surprising me with its tender threads of connection between pieces, and with its silences, too.

[J · Rating 3 out of 5]

Rating a book like this is hard, in that I know that Jenny Boully is a good writer, but I wanted to stop reading this a third of the (short) way through.

I think the notion is brilliant -- the reader is given just the beginnings and endings of essays. But the beginnings & endings don't match up at all, and it slowly becomes clear that any continuity will be found in threads continued through the entire book (butterflies, paper slipped into books), which was beautiful in its own way, but the title's promise was not fulfilled and I did not feel satisfied.

[Elizabeth · Rating 2 out of 5]

Jenny Boully's writing is brilliant and beautiful. I just wish there were more of her voice, and less of her experimentation with form.

[Vincent Scarpa · Rating 5 out of 5]

(heart still achey and strange, so I continue to reread Boully)

“When a star ‘dies,’ it still exists; it is only said to ‘die’ because it no longer gives light. So too do I wonder about our living selves: do we begin then, sometime, much later, to give off light? The star still exists; some stars, such as quasars and pulsars, will continue to give off signals, such colossal amplitudes of last life, a life-line showing up on no screen, continuously beeping for a celestial doctor who does not come. Some ‘dead’ stars, like black holes, we know exist simply because of the behavior of other bodies around them; their gravitational forces continue to attract whatever happens to live near enough to be propelled closer to them. (So do I too behave in such a way that suggests that someone I loved once still exists?) What the unsuspecting body does not know: once there is a pull of attraction, there is no departing, no leaving, and thus one gets crushed into a singularity so astoundingly dark and heavy that not even light can escape.”

[Zach · Rating 2 out of 5]

I opened this, extremely excited for what might be within the pages. I am a SUCKER and a half for non-conventional nonfiction and had no idea what to expect. Unfortunately, perhaps my literary ability was not up to par, or this was too academic for me to understand. Each individual section I find very fun to read, and I love the concept and format of this book. However it does not mesh for me, becoming harder to read as you get closer to the end of the book. This will not stop me from reading more Boully books however.

[Brian · Rating 4 out of 5]

Powerful- the reader (this reader) is forcibly made aware of their involvement in linkages between beginnings and endings- we are made to construct our own centers here, again and again. This book felt like a magic trick.

I have an enthusiasm for writing that reorients my own relationship to reading. I recognize I’m not alone, but this is niche. If you find yourself in this camp, I think you’ll enjoy this.

[Samantha (Bookwyrmsam)]

I often avoid rating/reviewing books that I read for class if they don't have a huge impact on me/ aren't something I would read outside of class. But I do think Boully was doing something really interesting with this piece, and I'm fascinated by the fact that I kept getting invested in these beginnings only to be frustrated when they were interrupted and never reached their conclusions.

[Rebecca Valley · Rating 4 out of 5]

One of the strangest books in terms of form I’ve ever read, and also one of the most beautiful in terms of longing for more of it - I want all these books to exist! I want all these beginnings and endings to have beautiful and full middles! A beautiful book about longing.

[Bryan Fox · Rating 3 out of 5]

It's a cute experiment, but it doesn't amount to much. More of an art installation than a book. She (and the reader) could have gotten just as much from randomly taking first and last pages from texts she liked.

[Kate · Rating 5 out of 5]

disorienting, luminous, open (ajar)

[Lauren Rhoades · Rating 5 out of 5]

A curious little book of delightful fragments, unmatched beginnings and endings, like squares in a quilt. A mind opening book. My second of Jenny Boully’s.

[Sarah · Rating 5 out of 5]

was obsessed, lost the copy I had, cried a little

[Sarah Tubb · Rating 5 out of 5]

I absolutely loved this book.

[emma rowan · Rating 5 out of 5]

this is the type of book u gotta read twice but might be my fav from 635 idk

[CJ · Rating 4 out of 5]

“After all, the single-cell amoeba does not exist until you call it into being, that is, until you examine the pond water under the lens of the microscope.”

[Jamjun Rorsoongnern · Rating 5 out of 5]

Boully’s dynamic collection manages to deliver not only critique and poetic prose but also incredible attention to detail. Each essay’s formatting is artfully curated; even the font seems to breathe life into each essay. The form and content enliven each other, making it a truly immersive reading experience.

These fragments created kaleidoscopic polyphonic musings on vivid topics. The disjunction of essays made a striking song of dissonance, somehow hopeful and ominous all at once.

It is a true test of reader stamina, but the rewards are immense for those willing to put in the effort. Moreover, the book illuminates the politics of readership and challenges readers to question their assumptions and biases. Overall, this is a must-read for anyone who is interested in exploring the boundaries of writing and readership

(Also shout out another Korat author อัศจรรย์!)

[A · Rating 4 out of 5]

Idk if I just got a trick copy but things felt out of order? And not in an intentional way? But the writing itself is good ... Just had hard time feeling grounded or being able to connect anything.

[Alexa Terry · Rating 2 out of 5]

I liked the beginnings more than the endings

[Jocelyn · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fascinating.
Jenny Boully manages to weave startling revelations into these short essays. Acting like a springboard to set off our thought processes on new trajectories. To me, some of Boully’s Beginnings and Endings read like prose poetry.
“Each line should in some way, read on its own and yet relate to the whole; line breaks work best if they are winged and serve to hinge two meanings.” From the piece, “Every Winged Thing Passes Unmolested Through Infinity.” And this: “The poem then is always paradox: light and darkness, totality and void, captured and created, becoming and dying, stitched and torn, cut and spliced.”
As with poetry this book invites re-reading.
“We were being served: from the long rows of blood melon, from the cave of dragon’s pearls.” And there is humour too: “I found myself, along with the other absurd people, taking photographs of animals at the zoo.” Reading just the beginnings and then short endings does take a mind shift on the part of the reader.

[O. · Rating 3 out of 5]

As with [one love affair...], this is an interesting, worthwhile read. I had some trouble, however, in connecting the disparate beginnings and endings (which is the point, really--to let the unknown suffice and tell its own story). This form was so jarring, though, which ultimately made the collection feel not whole.

[Chelsey Clammer · Rating 5 out of 5]

damn this book is amazing. each essay is the first and last page of a "book" boully has written. absolutely an excellent concept, and pulled off so well. it feels poetic and smart, and definitely keeps your mind engaged. i read it once, then read it again the next day. about to go on vacation and read it for the third time in a week.

[Jonathan Ball · Rating 5 out of 5]

A brilliant, simple conceit that is executed perfectly, Boully's THE BOOK OF BEGINNINGS AND ENDINGS presents, alternately, the beginning and ending pages of a host of otherwise unwritten, speculative books, which taken together have a strange resonance and constitute something of an extended essay on beginnings and endings in literary works. Boully is one of the best writers practicing today.

[Carrie Lorig · Rating 4 out of 5]

jenny boully has ruined the borders and my poetry has not suffered for it. i am absolutely in love with her love to disrupt all smooth wrapping paper. she has planted potatoes and they are blue with red guts and they have the crinkly texture of an ash rinse. fuck off she says.

[Jessica · Rating 5 out of 5]

Brilliant concept. The execution was not always perfect, but still, what a concept.

[Terresa Wellborn · Rating 3 out of 5]

Notable quotes:

“How can one forget the first black stain, the aquired fragileness that keeps us forever from becoming whole?”


“I only exist elsewhere.”

and p. 25 (footnotes).

[Gabriel]

Incredible.