Surrendering Oz: a Life in Essays

The boy's coming-of-age story is about leaving home to save the world. The girl's coming-of-age story is about relinquishing the world beyond home. It is about finding a way to sacrifice one's yearning for the larger world and to be happy about it.

Surrendering Oz is about giving up the safety of emotionally zoning out?about learning to think with the body. It is a memoir in essays that charts the emotional awakening of a bookish Bronx girl.

Bonnie Friedman is the author of Writing Past Dark. She teaches creative writing at the University of North Texas.