Kids Without Horses
Occasional Nonfiction from 2001 to 2024
- Publisher: Resource Publications (Wipf and Stock)
- Published: 2025
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Publisher's Description
This is a collection of weird creative nonfiction pieces. In this personal pet-project of sorts, gathered and shaped when COVID hit through mid-2024, Jennifer Spiegel brings together some previously published pieces, an "Ode to David Sedaris," and a little Gen X-obsessing. The topics are diverse: philosophizing over Pulp Fiction or recalling Spiegel's failure to pass the Foreign Service Exam often gives way to thoughts on creative writing and Art (uppercase "A"). Frankly, this is a myopic, personal, and eclectic collection. It's okay to repeat that: a myopic, personal, and eclectic collection. From Red Square and Dublin to Oklahoma and Brooklyn, from Nelson Mandela and Michael Scott to Donald Trump and Larry David, from Rick Springfield and Ethan Hawke to U2 and Elena Ferrante, Spiegel writes with, well, gusto on religion and race and rock 'n' roll. This is, at the end of the day, unorthodox orthodoxy.
Endorsements (3)
“Jennifer tells the stories of a life marked by trauma and the bright spaces in between. Throughout, her faith informs her . . . I both love and envy her talent and her brutal honesty. Her writing is beyond great.”
“Spiegel has written her own version of Songs of Innocence and of Experience in line with William Blake . . . there is talk of U2 though you don’t feel like a streaming service downloaded their album without consent. Kids Without Horses is full of Spiegel’s ‘deep cuts’ about mothers and daughters, music and culture, and love and loss. Kids Without Horses is smart, witty, vulnerable.”
“Bold, honest, provocative. Mixed in with a heavy dose of Jennifer’s uniquely self-referential and sarcastic humor. One thing is for sure: Jennifer does not hold back. Here in this book, laid out for all to see, is her life and her relationships, along with her insightful and brutal take on it all.”
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