You Could Make This Place Beautiful by Maggie Smith

In her memoir You Could Make This Place Beautiful, poet Maggie Smith explores the disintegration of her marriage and her renewed commitment to herself in lyrical vignettes that shine, hard and clear as jewels. The book begins with one woman’s personal, particular heartbreak, but its circles widen into a reckoning with contemporary womanhood, traditional gender roles, and the power dynamics that persist even in many progressive homes. With the spirit of self-inquiry and empathy she’s known for, Smith interweaves snapshots of a life with meditations on secrets, anger, forgiveness, and narrative itself. The power of these pieces is cumulative: page after page, they build into a larger interrogation of family, work, and patriarchy.

You Could Make This Place Beautiful, like the work of Deborah Levy, Rachel Cusk, and Gina Frangello, is an unflinching look at what it means to live and write our own lives. It is a story about a mother’s fierce and constant love for her children, and a woman’s love and regard for herself. Above all, this memoir is an argument for possibility. With a poet’s attention to language and an innovative approach to the genre, Smith reveals how, in the aftermath of loss, we can discover our power and make something new. Something beautiful.

Goodread Choice Award - Nominee for Best Memoir & Autobiography (2023)

320 pages, Hardcover

First published April 11, 2023

My Thoughts

Maggie Smith is a poet and a gifted memoirist as well, if this book is any indication. I enjoyed her gift for the metaphorical. While Smith focuses on aspects such as the increased understanding she gained about the longtime structure of her marriage--including the power imbalance and the resentment --this book is not a tell all of emotional turmoil, and in a way the writing about it feels like a somewhat dispassionate exercise despite the topic. She also explores gender roles, womanhood, motherhood, fury, loss, and a new fire for looking out for one's self. I enjoyed reading this memoir and gave it 4 stars.