Rachel Leon

3 weeks ago | chireviewofbooks.com | Rachel Leon

Many years ago, during a screening of the documentary The Business of Being Born, a woman I knew who’d recently given birth got up and left mid-film. Later, she told me it had been too triggering—her birth experience wasn’t what she’d hoped for and was in a constant mind loop of could’ve, should’ve, would’ve. I think of that woman when I find books that explore childbirth and the postpartum period with honesty, rawness, and tenderness. They’re rarer than you’d think, given the prevalence of birth.

1 month ago | chireviewofbooks.com | Rachel Leon

I’ve worked in child welfare on and off for over twenty years, and in that time, the limited media portrayals of foster care have disheartened me. Many depictions are flat and riddled with easy stereotypes, often written by people without lived experience within the system. An exception is David Ambroz’s memoir, A Place Called Home—released in paperback earlier this month.

1 month ago | chireviewofbooks.com | Rachel Leon

Some authors get deemed “writers’ writers,” meaning their work is so skillful, sharp, and brilliant, we writers flock to it. Lydia Davis, James McBride, Joy Williams, Clarice Lipspector, Lorrie Moore, Susan Choi, Denis Johnson, Jesmyn Ward—these are a few writers whose work other writers often revisit to study, for inspiration, and to marvel. I’d put National Book Award-finalist Karen E. Bender in this same category.

2 months ago | chireviewofbooks.com | Rachel Leon

Our country is especially divided today. Some of those issues have long been divisive, like abortion, climate change, and immigration. Others have grown on people’s radar these days—the destruction of Social Security, the need to stop genocide in Palestine, and how much control an unelected billionaire should have in our government. Many of us are asking ourselves how we can fix this mess, how to come together to fight for the respect, dignity, and justice of all people.

Mar 6, 2025 | chireviewofbooks.com | Rachel Leon

Yesterday I spent 50 cents to communicate with someone who is incarcerated. It was a cheap day. He gets one free video visit a week and, this week, he used it on me. I know his family is supporting him, putting money on his books, so I feel guilty each time I’m the one he uses his free visit on. But his family is typically working during the free video visit windows (Monday, Wednesday, Friday from 8am-4pm), and anyway, we’re friends now, he reminds me. I didn’t know him until three months ago.