This Is All: The Pillow Book of Cordelia Kenn

I'm becoming a Chambers groupie. Damn, but this man can write. This is a huge, sprawling book that chronicles the inner and outer life of Cordelia Kenn from the age of about 15 to 20. Chambers inhabits Cordelia completely, and this book consistently rewards the reader. Complex, infuriating, and achingly real.

I read this for the first time in Italian when i was 12 and my parents bought it for me without knowing what was inside (DO NOT buy it for your kids), and it is honestly the book that i best remember from my past.
The protagonist, Cordelia, is pregnant and wants to give her daughter a book that she wrote, following her life from when she was sixteen to the present. So we follow along the life of this teenager who wants to grow up, maybe quicker than necessary, having her first boyfriend and losing her virginity. Then a few major plot twist will happen but obviously no spoilers! So yeah, it is a very graphic book considering the amount of sex talk, but it's not crude or gross, it actually feels pretty natural.
Hands down, the best thing show more about it is the characterization of Cordelia, written by a man but so realistic that it kinda scares me at times. (Oh btw it's 850 pages, soooo...) I mean I just have very fond memories about this book, and I really really recommend it. It's full of wisdom and it makes you feel more in contact with reality (makes sense?) show less

Challenging, complex, fascinating, and maddening, “This Is All” is not a book for the faint of heart! Ostensibly consisting of journals of teenager Cordelia Kenn, detailing her life from early adolescence up to the age of 19, the book actually serves as a complete, multilayered, and intricate portrait of Cordelia’s heart, mind, and soul, as well as containing detailed portrayals of her father, aunt, boyfriend Will, best friend, and mentor.

Cordelia is pregnant at the time she begins her narration, and intends the pillow books—a form of all-consuming journaling inspired by the tenth-century Japanese Pillow Book of Sei Shonagon—to be a gift for her daughter on her 16th birthday. Cordelia is a thoughtful young woman with a lively show more intellect, and she fills her books not only with a narrative of her life, but with poetry, thoughts, and mini-essays on topics near and dear to her heart. The intended book becomes six books as she compulsively records the distillation of her own existence and is unstintingly frank in her discussions of her young-love relationship with Will and their early experimentations with sex, her physical affair with a much older man, her fractured family, the strong mentor-protégé relationship she develops with her high school English teacher, and her kidnapping and attempted rape by an acquaintance.

Immensely long, dense, and employing a variety of narrative techniques, “This Is All” is not for everyone. But the patient and adventurous, those willing to dive completely into Cordelia Kenn’s life and mind, will find much to reward their efforts. show less

Wow. Just wow. I can't even begin to describe how amazing this book was. Candid(to a sometimes shocking degree), passionate, and inspiring. I've never felt that I've known a protagonist as I know Cordelia. It was like sitting right next to her throughout her internal journey. As I traveled through her journey, I most surprisingly found myself going through my own inner journey. Through this book, I have learned things about life and even about myself I couldn't have learned otherwise.

First of all, it has to be said: this book is not for the faint of heart. Reading it is like embarking on an odyssey. It is 808 pages and you have to read it carefully, not only because it is so lovely you wouldn't want to skimp, but also because the "pillow books" were edited to make one large text, and so there is some skipping around.
If you can get past all that, though (and it's very little sacrifice for so much reward), this book will pull you in and never let you go. Cordelia is so enchanting, her stories so honest and magical, that it is like spending hours with a best friend.

This is All is one of my all time favorites! It is a pillow book (collection of thoughts, poems, anything wanted to put in it) about a teenage girl, Cordelia Kenn, as she grows up and learns to deal with her life and who she wants to be. I cannot explain how in so many ways this book affected my life and correlated with it. I believe that teenagers should read this novel around 17 or so to help them prepare with their lives... to bring a sense of thought and sensibility to the way they want to handle their lives.

I read this while still in high school and it had a profound effect to make me realize that anyone at any age can suddenly drop dead. This really helped me to realize that I need to treasure my time on earth ,as well as that of those I love.