When I first started this book, I thought it would be about language acquisition - as in, acquisition of languages. Julie Sedivy starts with explaining how she came to know so many of them, after all. But it turned out to be about acquisition of Language (singular, capital L), as well as all other ways in which we humans inhabit Language and are haunted by it. 

Part memoir, part nonfiction, these essays are definitely informed by the author's long career as a psycholinguist, but are also written so beautifully that they can be read just for the pleasure derived from literary prose. I have discovered a glitch in myself, however: after three degrees that all included some coursework and tons of academic reading on topics related to those discussed here, I realized that my mind just automatically slips into skimming mode when seeing the keywords. And it was so funny because this is something Sedivy discusses in one of the essays, the need to slow down to be able to feel the beauty of linguistic utterings. I do not know if they are planning to make an audiobook of this text, but I think that would be the best way to interact with it.

The essays are grouped into three sections, roughly following the general narrative arc from acquisition of meaning, through mature use of language, to the idea of its loss. But they can be read out of order and one by one as well.

I have received a free eARC of this book through NetGalley; the review above is my independent opinion of it.