Unless It Moves the Human Heart - by Roger Rosenblatt (Paperback)

About the Book

In the tradition of Anne Lamott's "Bird by Bird," beloved author Rosenblatt issues a moving call-to-arms on the value and necessity of writing that's full of practical insights and advice on the craft.

Book Synopsis

Multiple award-winner Roger Rosenblatt has received glowing critical acclaim for his exceptional literary works--from the hilarious novels Lapham Rising and Beet to his poignant, heartbreaking, ultimately inspiring memoir Making Toast. With Unless It Moves the Human Heart, the revered novelist, essayist, playwright, and respected writing teacher offers a guidebook for aspiring authors, a memoir, and an impassioned argument for the necessity of writing in our world. In the tradition of Anne Lamott's Bird by Bird, Rosenblatt's Unless It Moves the Human Heart provides practical insights and advice on the craft, exquisitely presented by one of contemporary literature's living treasures.

From the Back Cover

For more than forty years, distinguished author Roger Rosenblatt has also been a teacher of writing, guiding students with the same intelligence and generosity he brings to the page, answering the difficult questions about what makes a story good, an essay shapely, a novel successful, and the most profound and essential question of them all--why write?

Unless It Moves the Human Heart details one semester in Rosenblatt's "Writing Everything" class. In a series of funny, intimate conversations, a diverse group of students--from Inur, a young woman whose family is from Pakistan, to Sven, an ex-fighter pilot--grapples with the questions and subjects most important to narrative craft. Delving into their varied lives, Rosenblatt brings readers closer to them, emotionally investing us in their failures and triumphs.

More than a how-to for writers and aspiring writers, more than a memoir of teaching, Unless It Moves the Human Heart is a deeply felt and impassioned plea for the necessity of writing in our lives. As Rosenblatt wisely reminds us, "Writing is the cure for the disease of living. Doing it may sometimes feel like an escape from the world, but at its best moments it is an act of rescue."

Review Quotes

FOR MAKING TOAST: Rosenblatt brings the reader to tears, but with prose that is as restrained as it is evocative....Innocence and beauty restored then, with this gem of a memoir, deceptively simple in its proportions, but in truth: sad, funny, brave and luminous -- see how it catches the light...Without self-pity or sanctimony, the author reminds us in this rare and generous book that there is no remedy for death. The way to live, he concludes, is "to value the passing time"; the best we can do is to pay attention and to love each other well. - Los Angeles Times
Rosenblatt...sets a perfect tone and finds the right words to describe how his family is coming with their grief... It may seem odd to call a book about such a tragic event charming, but it is. There is indeed life-after death, and Rosenblatt proves that without a doubt - USA Today
"[MAKING TOAST] is about coping with grief, caring for children and creating an ad hoc family for as long as this particular configuration is required, but mostly it's a textbook on what constitutes perfect writing and how to be a class act." - Carolynn See, The Washington Post
"[An] exquisite, restrained little memoir filled with both hurt and humor." - NPR's All Things Considered
"Hauntingly lovely." - Christian Science Monitor
"Unless It Moves the Human Heart is right up there with Natalie Goldberg's "Writing Down the Bones," although less Zen, and Anne Lamott's "Bird by Bird," although less confessional... The book is filled with humor and practical advice..." - Washington Post
"They sit at the seminar table... pens poised, on the chance that I might say something interesting." Modest words, since Rosenblatt is an award-winning author. In this slender volume he reveals the characters and conversations that emerged during one semester of his "Writing Everything" class. There is much to love and ponder within these passionate pages." - People
"There is much to love and ponder within these passionate pages." - People
"With this slim volume, Rosenblatt (Making Toast) offers his take on the challenges and responsibilities facing would-be writers...The informal and succinct format makes [Unless It Moves the Human Heart] a fast read but not a simple one...This will appeal to readers interested in an artful take on the writing life, as well as to fans of Rosenblatt's previous works." - Library Journal
"With this slim volume, Rosenblatt offers his take on the challenges and responsibilities facing would-be writers...The informal and succinct format makes [Unless It Moves the Human Heart] a fast read but not a simple one...an artful take on the writing life." - Library Journal
"Roger Rosenblatt is the teacher you always wished you had. Teaching "is inevitably an extension of personality, '' and it is a happy circumstance that Rosenblatt's personality is generous, kind, and compassionate...Adept and inventive, Rosenblatt encourages his students to write with moderation but think with grandiosity...Having skillfully addressed matters of style, he ends by eloquently approaching the spirit." - Boston Globe
"Roger Rosenblatt is the teacher you always wished you had... Adept and inventive, Rosenblatt encourages his students to write with moderation but think with grandiosity...Having skillfully addressed matters of style, he ends by eloquently approaching the spirit." - Boston Globe
"Unless It Moves the Human Heart is right up there with Natalie Goldberg's "Writing Down the Bones," although less Zen, and Anne Lamott's "Bird by Bird," although less confessional. It takes the form of a memoir that recreates classes in which Rosenblatt and his students tried to answer the question, Why write?... The book is filled with humor and practical advice..." - Washington Post
A painfully beautiful memoir telling how grandparents are made over into parents, how people die out of order, how time goes backwards. Written with such restraint as to be both heartbreaking and instructive - EL Doctorow
Written so forthrightly, but so delicately, that you feel you're a part of this family. Rosenblatt's writing turns a story that might be too uncomfortable to read, or too sentimental, in the direction of simple facts that required sophisticated, but instinctual, responses. How lucky some of us are to see clearly what needs to be done, even in the saddest, most life-altering circumstances - Ann Beattie
Roger Rosenblatt means, I believe, to teach patience, love, a fondness for the quotidian, and a deftness for saving the lost moment--when faced with lacerating loss. These are brilliant lessons, fiercely-learned. But Rosenblatt comes to them and to us--suitably--with immense humility. - Richard Fordl
"The blow of the improbable: a highly achieved daughter who is the mother of very young children is tragically struck down in her radiant prime. Husband, children, and grandparents are bereft, and what can come of such a maelstrom of grief? MAKING TOAST, Roger Rosenblatt's piercing account of broken hearts, records how love, hurt, and responsibility can, through antic wit and tenderness, turn a shattered household into a luminous new-made family." - Cynthia Ozick
"Less a how-to book than a measured reflection on teaching, [Unless It Moves the Human Heart] nonetheless offers aspiring writers many concrete suggestions...And the oft-invoked words of other authors should resonate with readers and writers alike." - Publishers Weekly