“The story of your life, described, will not describe how you came to think about your life or yourself, nor describe any of what you learned. This is what fiction can do—I think it is even what fiction is for.” In his first collection of essays, Alexander Chee writes a book that examines his life’s entanglement with writing fiction. With personal essays that span from his time as an MFA student at Iowa Writers’ Workshop to becoming an AIDS activist with ACT UP in San Francisco to the events of 9/11, each entertains, inspires, and instructs writers on how to combine living a full life with knowing how to observe and write it. Widely lauded for its searing arguments and wise reflections, this collection is a testament to art’s ability to help process the events of one’s life.