What is the author's tone in the memoir, Upstream?

Oliver’s writing is free form; though there are excerpts of poetry (others’ and her own), the rest is not noticeably poetic. The book is called a selection of essays, but few of Oliver’s pieces have the formalisms of typical essays. They certainly do not have a structure composed of an introduction, body, and conclusion and sometimes they read like journal entries. As the subtitle “Selected Essays” suggests, there is the feeling that Oliver has written more on the subjects at hand and the book is presenting only some excerpts. This comes from the fact that there is sometimes a small lack of context or a reference to a concept that expects deep understanding of the reader. There is something conversational to her writing, as she poses questions to her reader and addresses them from time to time. She writes, for instance, “What do you ask of the pilot when you climb aboard and take your seat next to the little window, which you cannot open but through which you see the dizzying heights to which you are lifted from the secure and friendly earth? Most assuredly you want the pilot to be his regular and ordinary self” (26). In instances such as this one, it is almost as though Oliver and the reader are truly present together in a room, and she is speaking extensively at this time. Oliver actually writes that she admires in Whitman’s Leaves of Grass the way in which he addresses his reader intimately. She says the work “assumes an intimate audience of one-one who listens closely to the solitary speaker. That is, to each reader the poem reaches out personally” (103). Thus this constitutes another instance in which Oliver’s imitation, or continuation, of the authors she esteems becomes apparent.