The Atlantic
The beauty of fragmented, incomplete narratives: Your weekly guide to the best in books
Queens, New York in 2005Alex Webb / Magnum
When he decided to write a memoir, the journalist Jose Antonio Vargas faced an overwhelming challenge: crafting a story that was particular to him while knowing that some might believe it represented a much broader narrative about immigration. In
Dear America: Notes of an Undocumented Citizen, he makes clear that he speaks only for himself. But he also fills the book with reporting on the many challenges other undocumented people face.
A comprehensive story of immigration is, of course, impossible to tell; even many individual stories are unfinished. To capture this complexity, many writers turn to fragmented styles that highlight multiple perspectives. In