![]() Paula Isabelle Allende 1995 |
Isabel Allende has made her name as a writer in the genre of magic realism, where fantastical events occur, often without warning. When her daughter Paula collapsed into an irreversibly coma due to a rare disease, Allende found herself desperate for a story to tell her dying daughter. This is the book that arose out of a mother's need to understand the past, the future, and the mysterious connection between the two. Allende tells of events before her birth, of Chilean politics and how it affected her famously political family, of falling in love, of becoming a writer, of motherhood, of her journey through Paula's illness - while embracing the spirituality that pervades her fiction. Surprisingly, the story of Allende's life bears remarkable resemblance, both in fact and in imagery, to her bestselling novel THE HOUSE OF SPIRITS. While sadness frames this memoir, the core of it pulses with life and faith. Beautifully written, with moments that will make you pause with admiration, this book is startling and powerful. Every fan of Allende should read this, both for the context it provides for her writing and for the force of her storytelling. Reviewed by Debbie Lee Wesselman |
![]() Lonely Girls With Burning Eyes Marion Novak 1992 |
Read this book and thank Marian Faye Novak for writing such a difficult story. A compelling autobiography from the wife of a U.S. Marine who served in Viet-Nam during 1967 - 1968. Not the usual hero worship story glorifying war but rather a sobering account of life in the military and the demoralizing effects of an ignoble and senseless war. Extraordinary memoir recounts the emotional and mental devestation being a military wife without a support system. But, it is much more than just her story but rather the story of all the isolated women and families who waited for their men and then had to deal with the ugly after-effects. This is a story that needed telling and certainly needs to read by all the psuedo patriots anxious to send young men to fight bogus wars. Shame on Lyndon Johnson. Shame on Richard Nixon. Shame on George Bush, Jr. Shame on them, their wifes, parents and children for not opposing such heinous actions which destroyed so many lives. Thank you Marian for revealing the other side of war. Reviewed by Edward Rasen Jr. |
![]() The Golden Road Caille Millner 2007 |
I haven't read a book this fast in a long time. It took me two days to knock this out, and it's still got me thinking. This memoir is more than I expected. It's a thoughtful, engaging, hilarious and beautifully worded mixture of self-reflection, character portraits and global observations on race, plus a few more things.
The words "voice of a new generation" are often prematurely used, but in this case, they perfectly describe Caille's life and storytelling. You won't believe it's all non-fiction. Reviewed by Baratunde Thruston |
![]() Secret Daughter: A Mixed-Race Daughter and the Mother Who Gave Her Away. June Cross 2006 |
I just finished reading this powerful book and dissolved into tears. It is so honest and personal an account of a life lived in two places, one black and one white and the inner struggles and outer slights that resulted from this displacement. It is also a love story of a white mother who couldn't keep her bi-racial daughter, didn't always understand the shoes that she walked in, but loved her the best way she knew how from afar. The author writes from such a deep place that anyone can identify with her, no matter what their background. The writing is moving, wonderful and well crafted, often poignant and gut wrenching. It is also a success story of someone putting back the pieces of a fragmented life torn with racial dissent and misunderstanding. But it will help you understand your world better and hers as well, so that it becomes one world- not hers, not yours, but all of ours. It is not filled with self pity, does not lecture, has wonderful show business and socially significant insights and will make you laugh cry and think. Anyone who reads this will be all the more richer as a human being for doing so.... I know I was!
Reviewed by Victory Levi |
![]() Whisper My Secret JB Rowley 2013 |
This is the kind of story that hurts your heart. But it's also a story of love and new beginnings.
JB Rowley, upon her mother's death, found a hidden box ... and in that box, her mother's secret. The result is Whisper My Secret, an extraordinary accounting of heartbreak, disappointment, betrayal, and loss. But it is also a story of resilience. Myrtle, the author's mother, wanted one thing in life - to be a good wife and mother. And she was. But her first husband and his parents treated her with indifference and, then, contempt. And because of them, she lost her three children. I actually felt anger rising as I read Myrtle's story. How could this happen? However, because of the love from another man - JB's father - Myrtle blossomed and was able to live the life she always wanted. I wonder how JB felt when she realized she had siblings she didn't even know existed. Readers get a small glimpse of that, but not enough. And I want to know more about those three children: Bertie, Audrey and Noel. This illustrates just how involved I got in this story and the people in it. I feel like I know them. And I want to know more. Reviewed by Mary Watkins |
![]() Shocked Patricia Volk 2013 |
Parts of this book are funny and it's all a study into the mysterious world of artistic and outrageous women. There are lots of pictures too. You can see the author's mom, Audrey Elaine Morgan Volk and also Elsa Luisa Maria Schiaparelli look as they are described. Schiaparelli "Schiap" dressed in high style and revealing ways and blurred her whole life with art. Fashion and art are interwoven themes in Patricia Volk's entire life.
There is a lot of good wisdom delivered at unexpected moments. Schiap gives advice on men. Audrey gives financial advice. It's serious stuff. The sad section details the ends for Schiap and Audrey. This made an impression on me, how such artistic people live and die. I recommend this book. Reviewed by Citizen John |
![]() Un-Remarrried Widow Artis Henderson 2013 |
Unremarried Widow is no ordinary memoir. It is deeply emotional, painful, and tragic yet it is filled with courage, determination and hope. In this poignant and tender memoir Artis Henderson paints a sweeping canvas of a love story that will live on long after the last page is turned, even as she dreams of him "in the early hours of the morning, the time when the veil between the living world and the afterlife is thinnest".
The memoir is not only about Artis and Miles Henderson: their courtship, marriage and the tragic death of Miles four months after their marriage, but it is also a book that takes a closer look at military life, and its impact on individuals as well as their families. It is a book that deals with the anxiety, loneliness and emotional twinge felt by all connected with military life. Unremarried Widow by Artis Henderson is evocative and heart-rending. It is a stunningly crafted passionate love story nipped in the bud by the combined savagery of fate and man-made war. It is a book not to be missed. Reviewed by Khamneithang Vaiphei |
![]() This is the Story of a Happy Marriage Ann Patchett 2013 |
This is the Story of a Happy Marriage is a collection of essays by a writer who is best known for writing novels. I haven't read any of Ann Patchett's novels, and probably won't, because I never seem to get around to reading contemporary fiction. But I often enjoy the essays of novelists -- Amy Tan, Stephen King, Susan Orlean, and many others. The title intrigued me. Was it meant ironically? Smugly?
Most of these pieces are autobiographical in some way although they don't add up to a memoir as such. They are articles and essays that have been previously published, in magazines and journals, at different stages in Patchett's career. I especially enjoyed her book tour experiences, which she seemed to appreciate, if not actually enjoy. Her piece about taking the grueling exam for the Los Angeles Police Academy was also fascinating. Many of the essays are about relationships that have been important in her life, such as those with her grandmother, her first husband, her father, her dog. Then there's the title essay, late in the book, which is good planning. If you already know and like Patchett, you can read the essays out of order, but if, like me, you are new to her writing, it's good to get to know her through the essays that precede it. By the time I got to the happy marriage piece, I quite liked Patchett and was fine with following her long story of how she and her current husband met and didn't get married for eleven years. I think that if I had not got to know her through the previous 200 pages of essays, I might have found her happy story just a bit too self-satisfied. As it was, I was happy for her and grateful for a happy ending to a story that could have ended unhappily. It's a pleasure to add Ann Patchett to my list of novelists who write great essays. Reviewed by Amazon Vine |
![]() Come by Here Clarence Major 2007 |
This intimate look at race and its implications captured me the minute I opened this book. Clarence Major, the well-known poet, has written a beautiful and touching memoir on his mother's story. Although African American, Inez realized she could pass as a white woman with her light skin and was determined to not let Jim Crow laws hinder on her life. She embarks on a double identity in order to help her family. In the end, this sacrifice leads to self-discovery and offers readers an important look at racial challenges in our recent history.
Reviewed by a Customer |
![]() Her Christa Parravani 2013 |
Cara Parravani was living a relatively happy life. She was newly married and enjoyed a close and healthy relationship with her twin sister Christa. This all changed after she was brutally raped by Edgar Hernandez. After the rape, Cara told her twin that she now knew what it was to be a woman. Christa said that Hernandez "untwinned" them.
Cara sought escape and solace in drugs, finally narrowing her focus down to the drug choice for those who don't want to live. She'd told Christa that she saw herself die during the rape, but surprisingly heroin helped Cara to have some semblance of living. In the end, the heroin that took the edge off the pain took her life. This is the point at which Christa's life spun out of control. Christa was the steadier, less needy person, but nonetheless needed her sister. Cara's loss submerged her in grief and dysfunctional behavior, but over time she regained her balance. Christa is an excellent writer and "Her" is a compelling memoir. But what I am left with in the end is a revulsion with the casual and cavalier attitude with which one person destroyed another person's life in order to meet his twisted needs. I am brought back to Atticus saying that rape is, "by force and without consent." The legal terms are very cerebral, but the aftermath is anything but cerebral. Over and over again these thoughts came to me as I read the book. It is my reminder. It is any woman's reminder and a reminder for any father, brother, and man who loves a woman. Guard yourself and the ones you love. Be aware and teach your daughters that being safe is better than "being nice." It is a reminder for parents of sons. It is a reminder for lawmakers. Cara was raped on October 18, 2001 at 3:30 in the afternoon. Hernandez had a convictions for "domestic assault and battery, assault and battery on a police officer, and assault and battery with a dangerous weapon." (AP Oct 3, 2003). The AP also reported that between 1993 and 2000 no less than six women had taken out restraining orders against Hernandez. If only...if only... I am glad I journeyed with Christa as she came to terms with a life without Cara and I recommend this book to anyone who wants a glimpse behind the veil of twin-hood and also anyone who is willing to brave the insanity to which rape can bring a whole person. Cara was a brave young lady, and Christa is too. Reviewed by a customer |

Truth is stranger than fiction, so they say. Some of the events in this book may seem unbelievable, but I know they are true, as I knew some of these people when I was growing up in the same area of Detroit. I admired Maude for her strength to endure the loss, grief and disappointments that came her way of which she had no control; and I was saddened how happiness eluded her. But she made the best of things as much as she could. Life was hard in the early part of the twentieth century in the south, but it was just accepted as the way things were. They decided to leave all their worldly possessions behind and go to Detroit, along with the throngs that came north to work in the booming auto industry, even walking part of the way! The physical and economic side of life got easier, and she was finally able to get more control of her life, but disappointments still followed. This book sort of reminded me of "The Dollmaker" by Harriette Arnow
Reviewed by Carol Wheatley
Reviewed by Carol Wheatley
Maude
Donna Mabry
2014
Donna Mabry
2014
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Sometimes books can really change your life. When I Married My Mother by Jo Maeder is one of those books. First, the title got me by asking, "What does that mean?" and then once I realized what it was about, I knew I had to read it.
What got me hooked was that Jo had a tenuous relationship with her mother. I have had one with my step-mother, too. She was the only mother I knew since my mother died during my birth. I could go on for hours how my step-mother was "not what I wanted in a mother," but I won't. What I did ask myself is: if Jo can heal a relationship with her mother, why can't I? While I was reading the book, I brought it on a visit with my step-mother. She asked what I was reading and I told her. As I remembered Jo's magic with her mother, something shifted in me, and I realized my old way of thinking needed to leave so my step-mom and I could created magic, too. It worked! It was a huge leap into trying to heal a deep wound. It became a magical weekend from then on. And as I left, she said to me as she hugged me tightly, "I can't ever remember having such a good weekend with you as I did this time! You know I am going to miss you." I almost fell over! I had never heard those worlds before. When I Married My Mother is written with insight, humor, and honesty. I think everyone who has a "mommy" issue could grow from Jo's wisdom. As she says, "If you're not right with your mama, you probably won't be right with anyone." I have thought about that one sentence for awhile now. It has brought me to action to change my ways; as really I am the only one who can change any situation I have problems with. Reviewed by Noraza |
When I Married My Mother
Jo Maeder
2014
Jo Maeder
2014
![]() The House of Happy Endings Leslie Garis 2008 |
Leslie Garis' account of growing up in a harrowingly fragile family of
writers in the 50s and 60s is the most affecting book I've read for
months. In their vast Amherst house, we meet her gallingly successful
grandfather Howard Garis (of Uncle Wiggly fame), his toxic wife (The
Bobbsey Twins), and their tireless failure of a son--Roger Garis
(Leslie's father)--who aimed higher than his parents but withered in
their shadows, spiraling down into addiction, insanity, and
fecklessness.
The hero of the book, and the one for whom I shed the most tears, is Leslie's mother, who somehow kept this combustible trio functioning as long as she could on ever tighter budgets, while raising three children (Leslie and her two brothers), each with their own heartrending challenges. The story unfolds against a fascinating literary and theatrical backdrop peopled by (among others) Robert Frost, Tennessee Williams and (posthumously, hauntingly) Emily Dickinson. Beautifully observed, compassionate, and filled with more cliffhangers than "normal life" usually delivers, The House of Happy Endings left me rather shattered and profoundly moved. I found myself staring at the photo of the family on the book's cover long after I'd finished reading, feebly trying to stroke the faces of the little boys, as if to comfort them. Reviewed by Dale Hrabi |
Traveling to Infinity
Jane Hawking 2014 |
This is the memoir upon which the beautiful movie The Theory of Everything is based. This is the story of the early life and first marriage of the multiple award winning physicist and cosmologist Stephen Hawking told by his first wife, Jane. Most of the world is aware that Hawking is a victim of Lou Gehrig's Disease, but few (fortunately) understand what that struggle entails for the victim and his loved ones. Jane Hawking does us an enormous service by describing how she, Stephen, their three children, their extended family and friends, and the larger world coped (or failed to cope) with the demands of a chronic, debilitating illness.
When Jane met Stephen in the early 1960s he was already beginning to suffer the early effects of his illness. Jane married him in 1965 aware that he was predicted to live no more than two years. Improbably, he not only lived but was able to develop his revolutionary theories on black holes, write a best selling book, and travel widely. Much of the credit for his flourishing career must go to Jane's extraordinary devotion and ingenuity, which is even more remarkable when we learn that she earned her own doctorate in Spanish medieval poetry at the same time she kept her husband alive and raised three happy, healthy, children. Jane's story is an intensely moving and always interesting one. She describes the issues of dealing with a loved one's chronic illness on top of the normal difficulties of keeping a marriage and family going, giving credit where it is due to the many people who assisted her and also assigning blame where it is needed: unresponsive bureaucrats, caregivers who are anything but,and well meaning but clueless busybodies. I could understand why her pain at her marriage's ending was mixed with some feeling of relief, and was glad when both she and Stephen eventually reestablished friendship and some degree of reconciliation. Above all, I was glad that this very strong and good woman has been able to find new love and a new life. Reviewed by John Cofield |
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A Bridge Between ~ Northern Italy Come Hell or High Water (Kindle Edition) Carlo Pola at the age of 91 unexpectedly declared that he had a yearning to return to the town in northern Italy where he was born and hadn't seen since the age of six. In A Bridge Between, Velia Pola writes of how she and her sister Jan provided the assistance her father and 88 year old mother needed to undertake such a trip and help Carlo realize his wish.
Along the way there are a series of travails to deal with which the sisters overcome with determination and filial love, but the author also writes of the natural beauty of the north Italian landscape and the picturesque cities and towns from Venice to Lake Como and her fathers birthplace Finale Emilia. Finale Emilia and nearby towns are noted for their gastronomic delights, and these are described by Pola with mouth-watering gusto and appreciation. Ms. Pola's writing style is very fluent and engaging, and she has produced a fine travelogue wrapped in sentiment and family reminiscences. An enjoyable read. Reviewed by Leo Whelan |
A Bridge Between: Northern
Italy Come Hell or High Water
Vela Pola
2013
Italy Come Hell or High Water
Vela Pola
2013

Stories of My Life is a fascinating personal account of the life of renown author Katherine Paterson. It is told with humor and a keen perception of the world and people around her. As author Nancy Graff writes in one of the introductions, "Week after week, one of the greatest story tellers has told me the story of her exceptional life. Diners no more than three feet away, deep into their meatloaf, are oblivious to the presence of the Former National Ambassador for Young People's Literature, the winner of the Astrid Lingred Award and the Hans Christian Andersen Medal." Indeed Stories of My Life gives a glimpse of a person who writes not for honors but with a sense of purpose. It gives a glimpse of a real person who, like each of us,wants friendship, love and a sense of community. Here is a person who embraces life with all it's intricacies and gives back to it in full.
Reviewed by Winifred Mccormick
Reviewed by Winifred Mccormick
Stories of My LIfe
Katherine Patterson
2014
Katherine Patterson
2014
![]() Bastards: A Memoir Mary Anna King 2015 |
I read this memoir as fast as I possibly could, eager to hear what happened next in Mary Anna King's life. Born to parents who kept having children but weren't able for a variety of reasons to actually raise them, she is in many ways alone, although she has six siblings. Her life takes her from a housing development full of single mothers in New Jersey to Oklahoma City, where she is raised by her grandfather and step-grandmother. The contrast between her mother's unconditional but messy love and her grandparent's steady but colder caretaking brings up many issues of what love is, and what a child needs to flourish. The last four girls in Mary's family are all put up for adoption, and much of the second half of the memoir is about gradually meeting them all and trying to form a family with full siblings that non-the-less have lived lives all very different from each other. It's an amazing inadvertent experiment in nature vs. nurture. As Mary says, chaos seems to find her sisters, even though they were raised in homes very different than her own. The family trait of forms of reckless living, drinking and questionable choices finds them all to some extent, but in addition, more positive traits come through---almost all of them can sing, like their ne'er-do-well father. Few people have lived a life like the one described here. Few people would want to, but I think almost anyone will want to read about it. It's an amazing story, skillfully told. Reviewed by Suzanne Amara |
![]() The Outskirts of Hope Jo Iverster 2015 |
I picked up the Outskirts of Hope in my local bookstore because the author is a local, and I'm also really interested in the Civil Rights era, the period during which most of this memoir takes place. As I read the book, it was really hard to not put myself in the place of Aura, the woman whose life is uprooted in 1967 (along with the rest of her family) from a comfortable Boston existence and transferred to a tiny town in the Mississippi Delta so her husband can start a medical clinic. I'm the age Aura was when the story starts, and I also have a child (Aura's young daughter Jo is also a compelling voice in this memoir, and it's Jo's experience that ends up the linchpin of the story, both bringing their time in MS to a climax, and then providing its coda 40 years later). While the culture shock Aura experiences is constantly interesting to read about, what ends up coming through is how she turns an entirely unpredicted and, at first unwanted, life change into a catalyst for her own new paths in life. She enters Mississippi as a dutiful yet reluctant wife and by the time she leaves...well, I won't spoil it. Suffice to say, there are places in life, both literal and metaphorical, you can never go back to once your eyes are opened. Reviewed by Soccer Mom |
![]() The Butterfly Groove Jessica Barraco 2015 |
A Mother/Daughter relationship is one that most women take for granted - we never think of our mother's having any other life than that of mom, or perhaps a working mom. But these women who gave birth to us have had their own lives when they were younger - sometimes they share those memories, sometimes those memories are gone or kept secret forever.
Author Jessica Barraco found her late mother's life to be one of mystery, secrets and intrigue. Jessica's mother died when Jessica was 12, a tender age when a girl needs her mom the most. As she grew older, Jessica found herself asking questions about her mother, but finding no ready answers. So she took it upon herself to seek out the answers she so badly needed to discover, and the secrets she uncovered were life-changing. "The Butterfly Groove" is a powerfully emotional story that will grip the hearts of readers as they travel along on Jessica's journey to find the truth. There are moments of sadness and moments of joy represented in this fascinating story - it is one you won't forget soon. I highly recommend this book as one both mothers and daughters would want to read together. reviewed by Sharon Chance |
![]() Laughing without an accent Firoozeh Dumas (2008) |
I really enjoyed reading this book. It was so funny and interesting and contained a lot of wisdom too. I never knew anybody from Iran. I had lots of bad impressions from the hostage crisis. Also I had been frightened by seeing on tv the apparent need for people in Iran to go out in the streets and chant, "Death to America" It is hard to feel good about people who appear to want you dead. But this book made me feel so much better. I liked learning all about Iranian people, especially the food. And it was very comforting to hear from an Iranian who actually liked some things about America and who did not appear to want people like me dead. The humor helped also.
reviewed by E Cartwright |
![]() White Dresses Mary Peterson 2015 |
I loved all the background history of Mary"s family. I am a Hoarded and understand a good amount of the psychology behind it. The ones closest to a Hoarded, especially their children, seldom really understand the root of the problem or the attachment to so much 'stuff'! Mary does an excellent job of documenting her Mother Ann's past and her gradual decline into hoarding. A frequent comment is " If you would just let us help and get rid of all this stuff you would feel so much better." But we don't. It isn't impossible to overcome but those who treat boarder say it is one of the most persistent addictions. In spite of Mary's great challenges growing up,she has been very blessed to experience many varied opportunities throughout her life including having children and most important a love of her life who loves her, allows her to be who she is, and gets her! As for Ann? Her Spirit is amongst loved ones and is free at last. reviewed by Brenda Kehoeon |
![]() Ghost Songs Regina McBride 2016 |
Regina McBride's Ghost Songs is both haunting and powerful, as it is also a testament to her resilience. In this coming of age memoir, she weaves time and place with incredible deftness and skill. This is her story about losing both of her parents to suicide. Not an easy subject to tackle, but McBride does it with hope and grace and never places blame on her parents. The book is speckled with beautiful vignettes, in which she recalls her life growing up in Santa Fe with brilliant sensitivity. To anyone that has dealt with suicide, this book may be somewhat cathartic, it was for me. There are books that I remember and books whose memory fades. This book has has carved a place in in both my mental vault and my heart. A truly great read! Reviewed by Dana Leoon |
Written from the point of view of Julie, the youngest in a family of nine children, Memoir of the Sunday Brunch is a heartwarming and funny story. The family business is a restaurant in Milwaukee, and I do mean it's a family business. Each child has to earn their rite of passage by working the Sunday brunch.
Her father, George, has very strict rules that must be observed while working in the restaurant. However those rules are often had to follow after skipping breakfast, or while nursing a hangover. And Mother's Day stretches all of the employees to their limits. Knowing nothing about the restaurant business, I found their antics very amusing. But I have to say how work in a family restaurant business spilled over into life at home became laugh out loud, hysterical. I love books that bring out emotion, whether happy or sad, it doesn't matter to me. I want to feel the story not just read it. Julia Pandl is a very talented writer. The first half of the book is written in a captivating manner while we watch a teenage girl grow into herself. There comes a point when the family experiences a time of overpowering grief. Ms. Pandl changed her writing style at the precise moment necessary bringing tears to my eyes. I never like to reveal much about the specifics in a book. I believe a reader wants to find those things out on their own. I love to comment on the character of the story and whether or not it's worth reading. Memoir of the Sunday Brunch is a not only a tribute to a talented writer, it pays homage to a loving mother and father and the family they created. reviewed by Linda Wright |
![]() Educated Tara Westover 2018 |
I was enthralled and moved by this powerful memoir. The author grew up in a survivalist family in Idaho, the youngest child. She was not homeschooled---instead, she simply didn't go to school at all, due to her father's mistrust of public schools. Her family didn't believe in modern medicine. Instead, her mother was an herbalist and midwife. Her father owned a junkyard. Her childhood is affected over and over by serious injuries of family members, injuries which are not treated.
As Tara gets into her preteen and teen years, one older brother in particular starts tormenting her, and the tormenting rises to the level of hugely severe abuse. In part in response to this, she decides to go to college, and by pretty much sheer force of will, does well enough on the ACT to get into Brigham Young University. From there, she starts a storied college career and eventually gets a doctorate from Cambridge. However, each time she is drawn back to the her family, her brother's abuse continues, and the family denial turns more and more severe. The memoir becomes a story of her internal struggle---to believe her own version of her life and to have the strength to break away from her past. I've struggled with some issues of my own in remembering the past differently than others, and I well know the feeling that the author has over and over. One line, "reality becomes fluid", hit me very hard. When you know something happened a certain way, but others can't accept that reality and attempt to change the past by denying it---Tara Westover is able to write about this so powerfully I was crying at points. I hope this book gets wide readership. It's an amazing glimpse into a way of life that most of us will never know, and an inspiring story of one woman's ability to change her future. Reviewed by S Amara |
![]() A Girl's guide to MIssiles Karen Piper 2018 |
An interview on the author on NPR's “Fresh Air” made me aware of this book. As this was written about the town where I was born and raised, I was excited to read it... and it didn't disappoint. Ms. Piper shares a her gift of story-telling, diving into the history of an town, a culture, a people - a perspective born of Navy brats and desert rats. While I agree with some reviewers that there are discrepancies in some of the landmarks she writes about and that some experiences may be exaggerated by the presenting these from the frame of mind of the child that she was when events happened, it doesn't make me doubt the authenticity of her experience growing up in this place. I appreciate how the author, through research into declassified archives, unveils the layers of the history and politics and culture of the naval base; her book has spiked my curiosity to find out more about the programs that my own father and grandfather worked on (which included the Sidewinder). I definitely appreciated the perspective she offered of coming of age in a small, rural town, and then leaving it for other environs where she gained a new understanding of who she is and challenged her conservative beliefs. It is a beautiful coming-of-age story, framed in the context of a carefully crafted community - which, in my experience, was quaint and beautiful but also wrought with hypocrisy. Reading this book filled me with delight - to read about a place so familiar that only insiders will really know what “Corny’s Shoes” really means.
Reviewed by Charles Holland |
Nicole Chung’s impeccably told memoir ALL YOU CAN EVER KNOW is about growing up in a world where she felt she didn’t fit in. Her white parents adopted her as a premature baby, struggling for life in the NICU, born to a Korean family, and she was given one story her whole life about why she was put up for adoption. While her parents were loving and cared for her, they were not aware of what she was going through. She never met another person who looked like she did in the small town in Oregon where she grew up, was never introduced to her birth culture, never truly felt like she belonged, and suffered through years of cruel jokes about her physical appearance at the hands of other children.
It isn’t until she leaves home for college that Nicole feels free, meets other Asian Americans, and people with whom she feels a sense of belonging. Married and a soon-to-be-mother, she is ready to find out about her birth parents. The journey begins to unfold. Nicole’s story is heartbreaking, heartwarming, enlightening, and told with such warmth, and without bitterness. It is about race, the urgent need to belong, and the importance of family. This book is impossible to read without feeling the intensity of love. reviewed by Carlynp |
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As someone who discovered thru my Ancestry DNA test close to age 40 that I was the product of artificial insemination, this story indeed struck a chord with me. Contrary to one of the comments above about there not being secrecy in the 1970s, there was indeed secrecy well into the 1980s regarding the use of donor sperm from med students/residents and the practice of artificial insemination. There are no records available to many donor-conceived adults conceived thru the late 1980s. Recipient parents were told that secrecy was of the utmost importance and never to tell the children conceived this way. It astounds me that so little thought was going into a practice that was creating human beings. Dani eloquently writes about feelings and deeply personal reflections that I myself have felt. Please remember that donor-conceived people are people with feelings and it is a basic human right to want to know where you came from. We did not ask to be created this way. If you know someone who is donor conceived or you yourself are, I highly recommend this book!
reviewed by rjm |
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When I Was White
Sarah Valentine 2019 |
Growing up I never in a million years would have guessed that someone else was living the exact same life I was. This book was affirming in so many ways, helping me to feel like the emotions and questions and feelings I was having were normal for someone in our circumstances. Sarah so eloquently describes what it's like to be caught in the middle of two identities and what it feels like when the people around you don't help you sort it out in any manner that makes sense to you, and how traumatic it is to find out the person you were told was your father is not as an adult. I found myself crying multiple times because it took me back to things that had happened to me. This hit so incredibly close to home and was so personally applicable, that I found myself lost in the pages as if I had written them. I highly recommend it to anyone who found themself in this position, or anyone who knows someone who was. It will help you better understand the personal conflict, the mental and emotional stress and trauma it brings when you find out information about your biology later in life. And it will help you understand why those of us who are mixed sometimes struggle to figure out where we belong.
Reviewed by Jodi Girard |
![]() The World According to Fannie Davis Bridgett DAvis 2019 |
What a delightful, beautifully written tribute to an amazing mother. I’ve always been fascinated by the “numbers” business but this book, while revealing much about this enterprise often prevalent in the black community, is so much more.
A remarkable story about love, a mother- daughter relationship, family, friendships, life and loss. If Fannie Davis had only had the benefit of a formal education and had not suffered the pain of prejudice and discrimination, one only wonders if she might not have done a better job running Detroit and it’s industries than those chosen to do so. reviewed by JRL |
![]() Murder, Motherhood and Miraculous Grace Debra Moerke 2019 |
Through each tragedy grace follows with the whispered prayers of a mom. This book takes you on a journey of trust and allows you to see how God turns beauty from ashes in the true and sometimes heartbreaking events in this book. This is testimony of what God can do through a woman with a willing heart to obey even through the craziest of circumstances.
Reviewed by A Schaf |
Memorial Drive
Natasha Trethewey 2020 |
Trethewey makes her mother and her memories viscerally alive, in a process that seems to me to be a form of transmutation. I'm not sure how someone who hasn't experienced this type of violent loss would read it, but my hope is it will give him or her a way to sympathize with the losses of those around them. And for those of us who have experienced it, to read this is to put words and meaning to pain that is sometimes impossible to describe.
reviewed by Elizabeth Rose |
![]() Freckled Toby Neal 2018 |
Toby Neal does a terrific job telling her childhood story, as well as the story of Kauai, Hawaii back in the 1960s and 1970s. Even more importantly, she shows how “bad” parents can be as educational to a child as “good” parents, and how “growing up wild” can make a child highly resourceful and resilient. Subpar parents and a childhood where bad things happened, such as bullying, does not doom a child. Apples can fall far, far away from the tree. From a very young age, everyone starts making decisions about their lives and how to respond to what happens to them. You can blame your parents and others and society until you’re 90 years old, but it’s a silly, stupid thing to be doing. Read this book if you want to read about someone taking full responsibility for her life. Read this book if you want to experience and understand life back in Hawaii 50 years ago, as lived by one freckled, red-headed girl.
Reviewed by Sunday at Dusk |
The Window Seat
Aminatta Forna 2021 |
Aleksandar Hemon said it best: "[Aminatta Forna] is brilliant at thinking in narration and can thus tell superb stories about her life and experience." These essays read like someone telling you a great story, and Forna makes it seem effortless. There aren't any weak pieces; some are intended to be more modest in scope than others, but IMO they all succeed at what they set out to do. It helps that many of her concerns & observations resonated with me. She's the kind of essayist that you immediately feel you can trust, and who you'll follow anywhere, knowing she'll mine every topic for its most interesting aspects.
reviewed by an amazon customer |
How To Forget
Kate Mulgrew 2018 |
I simply can NOT say enough good things about this book! Mulgrew's second book continues on in her personal quest for insight, trying to understand her parents, their relationship, and her relationship with them. After returning to Iowa to care for each if her parents in their seperate final days, she explores the emotional rollercoaster that many of us experience with the impending death of our own parents. I laughed, I cried. Reviwed by SA |