The Invisible Stranger: The Patten, Maine, Photographs of Arturo Patten

After seeing the stunning B & W portraits so wonderfully printed in this book, I knew I had to buy it regardless of what the text had to say. Even so, when I got it home I had high hopes that the text would tell me something about the people depicted in its pages, like a National Geographic story might. Or perhaps it would say something about the photographer and why he chose these subjects and what he liked about each image. I would have loved a technical treatise on how one takes such great on-location photographs. Instead, the text, while well written, doesn't have much to do with the photographs at all--and that's a shame. On the other hand the photographs are truly wonderful and they communicate for themselves. They show how compelling Black and White portraits can be. If you like Black and White portraits, buy this book for the photography. And if you enjoy Russell Banks' musings on the meaning of life, so much the better.

In response to what I feel was an undeserved criticism of this book--also being from Maine and in fact a Patten by birth--I would just like to say that quite to the contrary of viewing these photographs and their accompanying text as sad, dire, or despairing, I view them as striking at the heart of what it means to be human, with all its contradictory emotions. I consider this book a testament to a willingness to pause and let experience speak for itself. It may not be "quaint" but it certainly is profound.

I suggest one copy of the new Harvard University Press Variorum Edition of Emily Dickinson and this incredible distillation/meditation on the human. Take both to a room somewhere and don't come out until you're haunted. Both evoke Death with a capital D.