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4.4 AVERAGE
4.4 AVERAGE
Raw, thought-provoking, and gut-wrenching at times . . . what a phenomenal collection of personal essays by Sarah Polley. I listened to it on Audible, read by the author, and would definitely recommend it, although I feel reading it would also be equally as good. Fantastic listen!!
challenging
dark
reflective
sad
medium-paced
Content Warnings
Graphic: Sexual assault
Moderate: Cancer, Medical trauma
challenging
dark
emotional
reflective
sad
slow-paced
challenging
emotional
reflective
medium-paced
Content Warnings
Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Cancer, Death, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Terminal illness, Medical content, Death of parent, Pregnancy
challenging
dark
emotional
informative
inspiring
reflective
medium-paced
Listening to this audiobook narrated by the author was a moving experience. Through her beautiful collection of personal essays, Sarah shares many challenges she's faced. From her early days as a child actor to the trauma surrounding the Jian Ghomeshi sexual assault trial, her storytelling is raw, honest, and deeply emotional. She doesn't shy away from difficult moments but paints a vivid picture of her journey through adversity. While the pacing does not follow a conventional timeline, it feels like a natural progression, with insights into pivotal events that shaped her life. Her evolution from a child actor to a mother, director, and author is fascinating and inspiring. Each essay is filled with wisdom and introspection, as she learns to find her voice, trust her instincts, and embrace the resilience of the human body and spirit. Sarah's description of her post-concussion experience was particularly touching. This is a must-listen if you're drawn to an essay-style memoir blending vulnerability and resilience.
funny
reflective
medium-paced
(Note: could be triggering for some women.) Fascinating book. I’d always wondered why Sarah Polley left Road to Avonlea, a seemingly wholesome family show. Now I know. I am sorry she went through the things she did. She also reflects upon her family struggles, pregnancies and an accident which left her unlike herself for several years.
So much of coming with terms with hard things from the past seems to be about believing our own accounts - having our memories confirmed by those who were there and honoured by those who weren't.
Why is it so hard for us to believe our own stories, or to begin to process them without corroborating witnesses appearing from the shadows of the past?
Or without people stepping forward with open arms when echoes of those stores present themselves again in the present?
WOW- I have to admit, I was quite surprised by this book, as I had picked it up without considering the subtitle and without reading the inner dust jacket. There are some hard truths, and she does nothing to prepare you for them (not that it would be her job to do so). I had expected a "here is everything about my life" sort of memoir, but instead you get a 'here is an account of my life and how it had impacted my body', captured by 6 poignantly written essays.
Part I : Alice Collapsing
The longest and most intense essay of the run, presented at the forefront to prime the reader with details about her parents, about the realities of pressure that is put on the actress at a young age, and about her inability to identify that the psychological/physiological effects pressures are extraordinary.
We (have always) been told of the difficulties women face having others believe their stories. That their unfortunate plight is that there account is not enough (when visiting their doctors, when having to process and complex interactions that are clearly harassment). One of these reasons is that the formative events are so off the beaten path from what is normal that they do not understand it themselves, or that they try to explain it away, or others try to explain it away for them.
This is a thread that worms its way through all of her essays.
Even through Sarah is 14 when she shares her stories of scoliosis and stage fright at Stratford, this is already a life that she is already accustomed to (having been acting since a very young age). She speaks of the pain of discordance between body and mind - having to bind her body to arrest her growth for the stage (at a time when it only wants to develop into adulthood), paralled with her having to take on a more mature role after her mother's passing (when she should be able to be a child with the rest of her siblings).
Sarah weaves back and forth, between her life at Stratford, the life of her character Alice navigating Wonderland, and the life of Lewis Carroll and his inappropriate muse. IF this were a movie, the visual transitions would be the only easy part of blocking this chapter, but the horrifying reality of this young woman and her life is anything but.
Part II: The Woman Who Stayed Silent
I forgot that Canada had its own #MeTwo movement years before the later one, surrounding ex CBC host Jian Ghomeshi. Sarah speaks on her personal experience with her assailant, followed by the torture of determining on whether or not to speak out when the news hits National levels. If you ever wanted a brutally honest account to understand attacked women who did not come out and speak up against someone like a 'Harvey Weinstein' (warts and all),, you will not find a better narrator here.
Part III: High Risk
Sarah speaks about her pregnancy and its difficulties. There is nothing particulary different here that was not told in dozens of other memoirs. This is not to minimalize the begetting of life, but rather to indicate that the intensity of her experience is something that all women endure.
Part IV: Mad Genius
Covers her work with Terry Gilliam, on a set boasting the absence of adults who were supposed to be representing her best interests (her parents). Not surprisingly, Uma Thurman makes a cameo here as a young woman, and would find herself years later in the same situation as Sarah on the site of Kill Bill (once again, with little concern for her security and safety).
Part V: Dissolving Boundaries
A recounting of a family visit to PEI has Sarah mentally revisting her life as a young aspiring actress, and the effect of landing Road to Avonlea had on those aspirations, especially after the tragic experience of Baron Von Munchausen. Once again, the theme of being cajoled into acting by her parents surfaces. She speaks of being stalked by a member of the crew, being forced to channel her inner grief of losing her mother into the latest Avonlea plots, and ties it all up in becoming a parent of amazing little humans (coming full circle).
Why is it so hard for us to believe our own stories, or to begin to process them without corroborating witnesses appearing from the shadows of the past?
Or without people stepping forward with open arms when echoes of those stores present themselves again in the present?
WOW- I have to admit, I was quite surprised by this book, as I had picked it up without considering the subtitle and without reading the inner dust jacket. There are some hard truths, and she does nothing to prepare you for them (not that it would be her job to do so). I had expected a "here is everything about my life" sort of memoir, but instead you get a 'here is an account of my life and how it had impacted my body', captured by 6 poignantly written essays.
Part I : Alice Collapsing
The longest and most intense essay of the run, presented at the forefront to prime the reader with details about her parents, about the realities of pressure that is put on the actress at a young age, and about her inability to identify that the psychological/physiological effects pressures are extraordinary.
We (have always) been told of the difficulties women face having others believe their stories. That their unfortunate plight is that there account is not enough (when visiting their doctors, when having to process and complex interactions that are clearly harassment). One of these reasons is that the formative events are so off the beaten path from what is normal that they do not understand it themselves, or that they try to explain it away, or others try to explain it away for them.
This is a thread that worms its way through all of her essays.
Even through Sarah is 14 when she shares her stories of scoliosis and stage fright at Stratford, this is already a life that she is already accustomed to (having been acting since a very young age). She speaks of the pain of discordance between body and mind - having to bind her body to arrest her growth for the stage (at a time when it only wants to develop into adulthood), paralled with her having to take on a more mature role after her mother's passing (when she should be able to be a child with the rest of her siblings).
Sarah weaves back and forth, between her life at Stratford, the life of her character Alice navigating Wonderland, and the life of Lewis Carroll and his inappropriate muse. IF this were a movie, the visual transitions would be the only easy part of blocking this chapter, but the horrifying reality of this young woman and her life is anything but.
Part II: The Woman Who Stayed Silent
I forgot that Canada had its own #MeTwo movement years before the later one, surrounding ex CBC host Jian Ghomeshi. Sarah speaks on her personal experience with her assailant, followed by the torture of determining on whether or not to speak out when the news hits National levels. If you ever wanted a brutally honest account to understand attacked women who did not come out and speak up against someone like a 'Harvey Weinstein' (warts and all),, you will not find a better narrator here.
Part III: High Risk
Sarah speaks about her pregnancy and its difficulties. There is nothing particulary different here that was not told in dozens of other memoirs. This is not to minimalize the begetting of life, but rather to indicate that the intensity of her experience is something that all women endure.
Part IV: Mad Genius
Covers her work with Terry Gilliam, on a set boasting the absence of adults who were supposed to be representing her best interests (her parents). Not surprisingly, Uma Thurman makes a cameo here as a young woman, and would find herself years later in the same situation as Sarah on the site of Kill Bill (once again, with little concern for her security and safety).
Part V: Dissolving Boundaries
A recounting of a family visit to PEI has Sarah mentally revisting her life as a young aspiring actress, and the effect of landing Road to Avonlea had on those aspirations, especially after the tragic experience of Baron Von Munchausen. Once again, the theme of being cajoled into acting by her parents surfaces. She speaks of being stalked by a member of the crew, being forced to channel her inner grief of losing her mother into the latest Avonlea plots, and ties it all up in becoming a parent of amazing little humans (coming full circle).
dark
emotional
informative
inspiring
reflective
slow-paced