4 stars

As a long-time fan of Ross Gay's poetry, I was excited to interact with his work in this genre. I was not disappointed.

While the titular "joy" is definitely a running theme, what struck me so much more throughout the collection is the concept of "inciting" it: of - in this era - having to sometimes work so hard to recognize the beauty in difficult personal, communal, and global moments. It took me longer than expected to move through these essays, not because I did not enjoy them, but because for me, they require more emotional processing and general marinating. It is not so much about the content but about the feelings and reactions that Gay describes. These pieces become like a manual for interacting with life in intentional ways, even in painful circumstances. While I did not experience this as a light read in any way, I do think I'll be taking some of the anecdotes and lessons with me for the long haul.

Gay's work is a real treasure, and while I'd suggest that readers might consider whether they're in the right mindset for this content when determining what to read next, I also know that those who are will come away with a lasting gift. I know I have.

Do you know the feeling when you come across a book at exactly the right time? If you have also found yourself feeling worn thin from the past few years, this book will be a balm. Having read and loved Gay's prior essay collection, The Book of Delights, I knew that he would not deal in platitudes. Instead, Gay offers a series of meditations on experiences and lenses to examine different aspects of joy. If you've already read The Book of Delights, you will recognize the thoughtful observations and celebration of the mundane and the minutiae which populate his newest collection of essays.

I was especially moved by his repeated return to community and connection as a site of care and a cornerstone of joy, through chapters on pickup basketball, gardening, and the Bloomington Community Orchard. I also appreciated the notion of joy as resistance against the abuses of power, as insurgency against mindless mandated conformity, as a refusal of that which will harm the community. The essay which analyzes Benito Cereno in the context of the abuses of the state is especially excellent.

Perhaps most compellingly, Gay deftly moves between the freedom in joy to the intimate relationship between joy and sorrow. Gay explores the latter relationship from multiple angles through the experience of the death of his father. I found these sections to be especially vulnerable and compassionate—solace I have been craving. It is a gorgeous read.

I read The Book of Delights by Ross Gay earlier this year and loved it. This one is great as well and something I can see myself coming back to at a later date as well. Ross Gay certainly has a way of making you find the brightness in the mundane

I was initially expecting just a set of essays reflecting on topics that bring the author joy and while I certainly got that, it’s so much more. Ross Gay does a beautiful job of displaying the full range of human emotions and the interconnectedness of joy and sorrow and every other deep-rooted feeling. Ultimately it’s a collection about the human experience and it’s quite lovely.

Inciting Joy by Ross Gay was covered in my Fall Book Preview, where I share a curated list of the season’s hottest new titles including the books I’ve most enjoyed, the ones I’m most looking forward to reading, and the ones the industry is most excited about.
Our Fall Book Preview event is exclusively for members of our MMD Book Club community and What Should I Read Next Patreon “Book Lover” supporters. Our communities also received a printable of all the picks with Inciting Joy's publishing info and release date included.

Ross Gay is the poet laureate of joy. But more than that, he has reinvented joy as a way of being in the world that encapsulates the strain, struggle, beauty, and pleasure of being alive. I will return to these essays time and time again to re-experience the joy of music, love, sports, and the perplexing pleasures of being in relation to others. The essay on Gay's relationship to tears in particular is a tour de force, among the best things I've ever read on masculinity.

I have adored Ross Gay’s poetry books and was thrilled to request this book of essays. Unsurprisingly, it was a vastly different reading experience than Delights or Gratitude. In fact, I soldiered through, fearing a difficult grappling with Gay’s father’s death. No need. To the extent that the book grappled with that grief, it was with Gay’s usual gentleness.

I received an ARC of this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

This was a pretty good book. I didn't love it as much as I was expecting to, but it was still good.

This is a deeply moving essay collection, and nothing less than what I'd expect from a voice as insightful and brilliant as Ross Gay.

In Inciting Joy, Ross Gay suggests that finding common ground in our sorrows creates joy. That joy creates solidarity and love and, possibly, our future survival. Thus, these essays emphasize repeatedly our connection to everything and everyone around us in the present moment and our connection to both the past and future. Rejecting the capitalistic notion of pervasive scarcity and ownership, Gay emphasizes community, gratitude, and sharing. He finds these in a community fruit orchard without locked gates, a basketball court where everyone is a guest, in a university classroom where grades and learning objectives are set aside, and in cover songs that carry on through time without being owned by a given singer, among other places. That said, Gay, the New York Times bestselling author of The Book of Delights and four volumes of poetry which received several prestigious awards, is at heart a poet, and these essays also clearly evidence his love of language, wordplay, and rhythm. Even his choice to refer to everyone by their first or nickname creates another subtle sense of our connectedness. In short, these essays offer a new, thought-provoking way to view our society and future.

I went into this book anticipating it would be like the Anthropocene Reviewed but it was not. This felt very wordy and often had asides that took away from the incitement you were reading about. If you’re looking for a book about things that being joy I would recommend other over this.

Ross Gay never disappoints. I was hooked from the intro and read the rest with more than a bit of contemplation. It was a beautiful read and so timely for the state of things now. I highly recommend.

Ross Gay's "Book of Delights" carved out a place on the recommendation lists of so many authors and creators I admire that I couldn't wait to read this new volume. Joy often feels in short supply these days, and I looked forward to sharing Gay's.

Gay has a relatable, easy cadence in his prose that makes you feel quickly connected to him, like you're bullshitting with a friend instead of reading a structured essay. This works extremely well when it works. Not all of the essays worked very well for me, but the ones that did were excellent.

My favorite selection in this work was a reflection on gardening and community. Gay spoke so lovingly about learning to expand his connection with nature through growing food for himself and his loved ones that it made me, a notorious hater of digging in the dirt, itchy to get out and find something to grow. He makes beautiful connections between sharing knowledge, sustenance, and joy with the ones who shaped you to those you may never even meet. It makes you feel tingly.

A few of the later essays didn't work quite as well for me. Some of the topics were a bit out of my range of experience/interest, which made holding that early connection more difficult. I started to lose the thread a bit as well, as the latter essays relied heavily on sprawling footnotes that broke the stride of its primary focus. But keep in mind that (1) I read this on an e-reader, which does not provide the best experience for that kind of structure, and (2) I read an advanced copy that may not be exactly what is published.

While this didn't quite hit every single note for me, I very much enjoyed the bits I enjoyed. I will take all the joy I can get.

Ross Gay is an unabashed ambassador of joy. These beautifully meandering essays provide stories that illustrate what it means to love, and to be human. His shared memories of his relationship with his father, and memories of their time together in liminal spaces were more compelling to me than the storyline of any suspense or thriller, Life-affirming. Necessary. Highly recommended. Thank you for this ARC!