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lsparrow's review against another edition
3.0
Enjoyed the stories of prairie childhood. found some of the style of the writing felt a bit choppy. Love the descriptions of landscape - both physical and of family relationships
jenny14's review against another edition
5.0
One of my absolute favorites. Crozier's memoir is poetic, full of life, transformative. It is so breathtakingly real, and Lorna writes in a way that the words are desperate to be spoken aloud, to be felt on the tongue. I will reread this again and again and again.
jcbyrne71's review against another edition
3.0
I originally read this book in 2010 and again four years later in 2014. I enjoyed it more in 2014 !
hannaheiserman's review against another edition
adventurous
hopeful
reflective
slow-paced
5.0
Content Warnings
Moderate: Alcoholism, Cancer, Death of parent, and Emotional abuse
alexauthorshay's review against another edition
3.0
Read for CRWR 397 (Setting)
It's interesting in that my teacher knows Crozier personally, which also makes me a little hesitant to say anything bad about this book. Neither poetry nor memoir is my forte so I'm not going to comment on if the book was "good" or "bad". For me personally, I'm not a setting-oriented person, and my attention to detail in my own writing is minuscule in comparison to this book, so my enjoyment wasn't very high, but that is no comment on quality of writing at all.
The "first cause" sections were definitely my favorite; Crozier's strength is in poetry and figurative language, making comparisons you can't possibly even comprehend without having the prairie background she does. But I have little previous exposure to the format of individual memories in their own chapters, plunked together by theme (setting) rather than any sort of linear plot, which wrecked my understanding and emotional connection to the story. Which is why I had to play devil's advocate in class in that I didn't find the end at all emotionally impactful. I admired her skill and her description, but I didn't feel it because I didn't feel her earlier in the work. I think it comes down more to me and what I'm used to; if I was more used to the genre/format, it might have been a better read for me.
It's interesting in that my teacher knows Crozier personally, which also makes me a little hesitant to say anything bad about this book. Neither poetry nor memoir is my forte so I'm not going to comment on if the book was "good" or "bad". For me personally, I'm not a setting-oriented person, and my attention to detail in my own writing is minuscule in comparison to this book, so my enjoyment wasn't very high, but that is no comment on quality of writing at all.
The "first cause" sections were definitely my favorite; Crozier's strength is in poetry and figurative language, making comparisons you can't possibly even comprehend without having the prairie background she does. But I have little previous exposure to the format of individual memories in their own chapters, plunked together by theme (setting) rather than any sort of linear plot, which wrecked my understanding and emotional connection to the story. Which is why I had to play devil's advocate in class in that I didn't find the end at all emotionally impactful. I admired her skill and her description, but I didn't feel it because I didn't feel her earlier in the work. I think it comes down more to me and what I'm used to; if I was more used to the genre/format, it might have been a better read for me.
canadianbookworm's review
5.0
This memoir had me enthralled from the first page. The imagery is some of the best I've ever read and she intersperses memoir segments with impressions on nature and her prairie surroundings.
Her memoir is open and honest and she doesn't try to gloss over the difficult times. She has gained permissions from some people she grew up with to tell their stories and has changed the names of others. Her family life was not easy and she talks about the role family dynamics played in not only her life, but that of her immediate family as well.
The writing is lyrical and flowing and her writing brings her world to life.
This is one of the best memoirs I've read in a long time, and I highly recommend it.
Her memoir is open and honest and she doesn't try to gloss over the difficult times. She has gained permissions from some people she grew up with to tell their stories and has changed the names of others. Her family life was not easy and she talks about the role family dynamics played in not only her life, but that of her immediate family as well.
The writing is lyrical and flowing and her writing brings her world to life.
This is one of the best memoirs I've read in a long time, and I highly recommend it.
anndouglas's review
4.0
A memoir of growing up poor in a small Prairie town. The writing is highly evocative. Some of the chapters read more like poetry than prose. The chapter of the book ("My Mother for a Long Time") which deals with feelings about the death of a mother is particularly powerful. Crozier writes: "Who but my mother held those small pieces of my childhood? Where would they go when she was gone?" "I started screaming as the spears of water hit my scalp and broke over me. Mom, mom, mom, mom! A yowl rose from my gut, my bowels, my womb, raw as a birth cry but with no hope in it, a maddening howl, a roar, the water a wailing wall shattering around me. Unsyllabled, thoughtless, the cry rose from the oldest cells in my body. I hadn't known grief could be so primal, so crude."
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