The 'Writing Myself Home' subtitle to novelist Jami Attenberg's memoir I Came All This Way To Meet You perfectly encapsulates the theme of this text. Attenberg brilliantly explores what it means to build a life, to build a craft, to build a writing career, and to eschew some of the societal expectations placed on women. I really enjoyed it!

If you like memoirs, this is an interesting one about the way creativity and travel helps understanding all the aspects of your life. Thanks to NetGalley for a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review

A humorous travelogue of a memoir of an author;; a bit all over the place but interesting and different. Thankyou to NetGalley and the publisher for an advance digital review copy.

In this latest work, novelist Attenberg (The Middlesteins; Saint Mazie) bravely shares the many lives she has lived at once—jobs held, identities navigated, homes left and returned to, hopes lost and found—all in order to support and sustain herself as a writer. She weaves together stories from her childhood with moments of raw self-examination and social critique in ways that pull her readers close to her, while always reminding them that they cannot truly share in the struggle, the fight that makes her stories so urgent. Readers follow along as she traces her path to becoming a writer, from shelving books at a local college library in her native California, to teaching fiction in Lithuania, where she began to explore her own personal family history as the descendent of Russian immigrants. Her memoir is a travelogue of sorts, taking her to Germany and Italy and more, as she navigates friendships, relationships, and her own writing career..

What Attenberg has learned about being a writer and a human offers a valuable lesson for readers seeking wholeness, healing, self-expression, and strength. The result is a humorous memoir of transformation that will delight a range of readers.

Somewhere between 4 - 4.5

I can never resist an author memoir (think These Precious Days: Essays, The Dragons, the Giant, the Women: A Memoir, Stray and Recollections of My Nonexistence: A Memoir) and I'm pleased to say this one doesn't disappoint. Having only experienced a couple of Attenberg's fiction offerings (The Middlesteins and All Grown Up) I can confirm this makes a very enjoyable read even if you're not overly familiar with her work. Having recently turned 50 Jami Attenberg is at a stage in her life and career where she is perfectly placed to reflect on her past experiences (I'm so done with reading memoirs by people my age...), and I loved the fluid and slightly fragmentary nature of her recollections. Attenberg tells the honest truth of the life of an author and I found it fascinating and refreshing. Highly recommended!

I have read most of Jami Attenberg's fiction and she has a deceptively easy style of writing, making stories fly by. This memoir is similarly written, and allowed me glimpses into her life and process. The reason this memoir stands out is that is dares to show us a woman who doesn't have everything figured out and is just as confused and creative and free in her 40s and 50s, in a way that is not allowed in most fiction.

Truly an interesting read and I think a lot of aspiring creatives would find this honest portrait of a writer to be useful.

Thanks to NetGalley, Serpent's Tail and Jami Attenberg for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Unfortunately I had to DNF this one. I found the writing to be lacking, it felt very juvenile. I can appreciate that this is Attenberg’s life story, I just couldn’t engage with it enough to keep me reading.

I Came All This Way to Meet you is a biography and travelogue mixed together. It is a chaotic book that zips all over the place, and when reading it you feel as though the author is not taking a breath. A little bit like a 'Vulcan mind dump'. Some parts were interesting but not all of it. It went back and forth from different times in her life and from place to place. I I did enjoy visiting the Sicilian Catacooms with her and Viola, and some of the other places she visited. Overall a bit confusing but an interesting read.