How do our memories make us? How do our stories shape us? In Closer Than They Appear, Heidi Wong presents a collection of musings exploring this distance between the past, the present, and the person holding onto the hope and beauty of the human condition.
After an entry on “Beginnings,” this 100-page book is divided into five sections: Love, Therapy, Other Places, People, and Roots. While specific in her stories, her themes are universal. I can’t relate to playing pond hockey, but I know what it’s like to find a family on a team. And I remember what it was like to be 16, experiencing emotions that were bigger than ourselves.
Relationships
Memories of relationships play a large part in her writings, where “each occupy a wall and canvas in the large museum of people” she has encountered. She is able to linger on them, wondering what would or could have been. And while she writes on her relationships with people, she writes on relationships with places and her relationship with her self.
For the most part, Wong’s entries are a short one or two pages. She is skilled, for sure. But I believe her writing shines brightest in her longer entries. “Homecoming” takes on a different format of short journal entries totaling 8 pages. “She and he” is about 5 pages – a short story on how a moment in time, shared by two strangers, can still build a powerful connection that remains to shape memories.
Remembrance
It’s remarkable that Wong is both an outstanding writer and photographer. She tackles a wide variety of subjects in her pictures, mostly pointed towards nature. Her full-color photos, taken on film, have a vintage, translucent feel — romantic, even. The one person she points the camera at is herself, at the beginning of her book alongside her words “to the reader.” She writes that — with photography — “sometimes what you see is not exactly what you remember.”
This book is a wonderful work of art that allows us to both see and feel what Wong remembers. It is a look into her world, a glimpse into her life, and an encounter with her heart. It is a testimony to the unity of our humanity. I am richer having read it, with greater appreciation and awe for the One that we reflect.
I received a media copy of Closer Than They Appear and this is my honest review. Heidi Wong is a member of our SOLA Network Conference Team. She will be featured in the upcoming SOLA Network Book Project: Writing the Next Chapter of the Asian American Church. Find more of her work on her SOLA Network author page.