Indivisible by Fanny Howe

#4 - Indivisible - 4*
Fanny Howe

2026

In “The Tune of Things” in Harper Magazine, Christian Wiman says, “I can’t overstate how important a presence [Fanny Howe has] been in my life, though we’ve probably spent a total of fifty hours together.” He calls Indivisible her masterpiece. Well, I think Christian Wiman is a marvel. He’s one of my heroes, as I call people whom I admire to the utmost. So, I got Indivisible and read it—most of it. I didn’t have the patience to keep reading. I got confused a lot; I would have to go back to previous pages to figure out who or what they were talking about. I’m sure it’s a failure of my ability to focus. I wish I could take a class from Christian Wiman about this book. He did write a review of it, but it’s in the Wall Street Journal behind a paywall.

I read other things about her, such as “Dear Fanny, Don’t Worry I Know You’re Dead” in Literary Hub by Ezra Fox, and a book of her poems, Second Childhood (#40 in my list of “Books I Read in 2025”). In Indivisible and the other things I read, I saw and admired her writing. I may come back to the book at some point, and I will read more of her writing wherever I see it.