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4.4 AVERAGE
4.4 AVERAGE
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
reflective
sad
medium-paced
emotional
funny
inspiring
reflective
fast-paced
dark
emotional
reflective
medium-paced
adventurous
challenging
emotional
hopeful
informative
inspiring
medium-paced
Completely compelling to me. I read this in three sittings, two of those running way past my bedtime. It definitely did feel like a rundown of the darkest moments of her life, and I get how that could be fatiguing for some readers. I didn’t find it fatiguing, though; it felt instead like Polley was excising old pains, broaching the impossible with a (huge) audience. I couldn’t have done it myself. Well done.
I didn’t realize this would be the memoir that it was- but nonetheless it was a great read- and I appreciated her thoughts and experience.
"It's the feeling Lucy Maud Montgomery described as 'the flash', which she experienced herself and endowed so many of her young female characters with versions of. In 'Emily of New Moon' Montgomery writes 'It had always seemed, ever since she could remember, that she was very very near to a world of wonderful beauty. Between it and herself hung only a thin curtain. She could never draw the curtain aside but sometimes, just for a moment, a wind fluttered it and it was if she caught a glimpse of the enchanting realm beyond. Only a glimpse and heard a note of unearthly music. This moment came rarely, went swiftly, leaving her breathless with the inexpressible delight of it. She could never recall it, never summon it, never pretend it... but the wonder stayed with her for days. And always when 'the flash' came to her Emily felt that life was a wonderful mysterious thing of persistent beauty.' ...I was a romantic child once with romantic longings -- I had forgotten this... I had forgotten that I was once the kind that had loved those Lucy Maud Montgomery stories. I read all of them, devoured them. I was one of those wholesome girls before childhood got interrupted. In this moment walking sleeping Amy along the fences ... I have a feeling I haven't known since adolescence - that anything might happen and that it is thrilling to not know what that 'anything' might be."
"It's the feeling Lucy Maud Montgomery described as 'the flash', which she experienced herself and endowed so many of her young female characters with versions of. In 'Emily of New Moon' Montgomery writes 'It had always seemed, ever since she could remember, that she was very very near to a world of wonderful beauty. Between it and herself hung only a thin curtain. She could never draw the curtain aside but sometimes, just for a moment, a wind fluttered it and it was if she caught a glimpse of the enchanting realm beyond. Only a glimpse and heard a note of unearthly music. This moment came rarely, went swiftly, leaving her breathless with the inexpressible delight of it. She could never recall it, never summon it, never pretend it... but the wonder stayed with her for days. And always when 'the flash' came to her Emily felt that life was a wonderful mysterious thing of persistent beauty.' ...I was a romantic child once with romantic longings -- I had forgotten this... I had forgotten that I was once the kind that had loved those Lucy Maud Montgomery stories. I read all of them, devoured them. I was one of those wholesome girls before childhood got interrupted. In this moment walking sleeping Amy along the fences ... I have a feeling I haven't known since adolescence - that anything might happen and that it is thrilling to not know what that 'anything' might be."
reflective
medium-paced
dark
emotional
reflective
medium-paced
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child abuse, Medical content, Medical trauma, Pregnancy
Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Sexual violence, Terminal illness, Grief, Death of parent
Minor: Miscarriage, Pedophilia, Stalking, Sexual harassment
challenging
reflective
medium-paced
emotional
reflective
fast-paced
I don't know how I feel about this! It was an interesting read but there are times when I have conflicting thoughts or opinions on what she's written. Like, how woke can someone be? She demonstrates herself to be the most woke person ever but when it's a bombardment of her own thoughts it's just a woke mind echo chamber. Does that make me sound like a bad person?
Content Warnings
Moderate: Chronic illness, Blood, Death of parent, Sexual harassment