"Transfixing. . . . A mystical howl, a thrumming, piercing reminder of how very closely we all exist alongside what could have happened, but didn't." --
The New York Times Book Review "Heartbreaking, life-affirming, beautiful. . . . Taken together, these vignettes make up a sharply intimate portrait of what it is to be a person in a body--and in particular, a female body." --
San Francisco Chronicle "An extraordinary book, a reminder that while life has its limits and can be unpredictable, we should push against limitations and not give in to fear." --NPR
"A uniquely complete portrait of a life fully lived. . . . Its unconventional structure probes deep -questions about the human condition, and it establishes a narrative that finds meaning and truth in life's chaos and randomness." --
Entertainment Weekly "Clever and poignant, thought provoking and deeply affective." --GOOP
"This intense, unsparing memoir is less about death than about chance, risk and the gift of another day." --
People Magazine
"A pleasure to read. And, indeed, difficult to stop reading. . . . There are echoes of Virginia Woolf not just in the rhythm of the prose but also in its dreamlike immediacy. The effect, ingeniously, is of a life told through the gaps, those near misses, on the eluding of which the rest of life hangs." --
The Wall Street Journal "Where other writers may be playing with paper, O'Farrell takes up a bow and arrow and aims at the human heart." --
The Guardian "[A] breathtaking memoir. . . . The book O'Farrell was born to write." --
Bustle "We all have them, those experiences that are even more terrifying in retrospect than they were in the moment, but in this riveting memoir, O'Farrell has written hers down. . . . Her stories are harrowing, but the purpose of these essays is not to frighten. It is to affirm." --Minneapolis
Star Tribune "
I Am, I Am, I Am is a gripping and glorious investigation of death that leaves the reader feeling breathless, grateful, and fully alive. Maggie O'Farrell is a miracle in every sense. I will never forget this book." --Ann Patchett
"A page-turner of a memoir." --
Elle "[O'Farrell] manages to relate all . . . without self-pity and in a tone that finds a balance between defiance and resilience. The revelatory journey that the author skillfully takes the reader on is also the path from youthful recklessness to a more judicious standpoint, later in life." --
Santa Fe New Mexican "A mesmerising read." --
The Sunday Times (London)
"Intimate in all senses of the word--physically, psychologically, mentally, and emotionally. There is something truly generous about [O'Farrell's] style. . . . This is a memoir to be cherished." --
The Rumpus "Ingenious and original. . . . A rich celebration of every breath O'Farrell's taken." --
The Independent "[A] gloriously unconventional memoir. Maggie O'Farrell deconstructs our relationship to death by recounting the many times she's neared it." --
Southern Living "Striking and unexpected." --
Kirkus Reviews
Born in Northern Ireland in 1972, MAGGIE O'FARRELL grew up in Wales and Scotland and now lives in London. She has worked as a waitress, chambermaid, bike messenger, teacher, and arts administrator, as a journalist in Hong Kong and London, and as the deputy literary editor of The Independent on Sunday. Her debut novel, After You'd Gone (2000), won a Betty Trask Award and was followed by My Lover's Lover (2002); The Distance Between Us (2004), winner of a Somerset Maugham Award; The Vanishing Act of Esme Lennox (2006); The Hand That First Held Mine (2010); Costa Book Award winner Instructions for a Heatwave (2013); and, most recently, This Must Be the Place (2016). www.maggieofarrell.com