Assessment:
Idea: Wichman’s life is one of the rare examples that naturally reads like a story, so that nothing feels out of place. The events feel like plot points in a gritty drama.
Prose/Style: The author’s prose is simultaneously spare and vivid, lending itself to the thriller-like pace of the story while also slowing down for its more emotional moments. The style is truly masterful, and hardly a word feels out of place.
Originality: The story is greatly inspiring, and the positive representation of sex work is of a complexity and persuasiveness rarely seen.
Character Development/Execution: The author takes pains to represent several facets of each “character,” no matter how minor—from Wichman’s stepfather to his numerous lovers to Wichman himself.
Blurb: A story with considerable emotional power, Every Grain of Sand also serves as a convincingly-argued defense of an underrepresented and taboo subject. Wichman's memoir is alternately thrilling, harrowing, and amusing, describing a life that runs the gamut of the emotional spectrum.
Date Submitted: December 28, 2020
