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4.34 AVERAGE
4.34 AVERAGE
Where to begin. Such a powerful, compelling story masterfully written. This one will stay with me.
Heartbreakingly beautiful when as she's engaging with her emotions and unearthing deeper understanding about her mother's death. Really hard to read when she's writing from the actual transcripts of what happened to her mother and the communication between her mother & Big Joe.
challenging
dark
emotional
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
Wow! That was powerful, tragic and so well written. I am grateful for the sharing of her experience and tragic loss.
Wow, I just listened to this. Beautifully written. I love memoirs, especially ones that address grief. There are so many descriptions of loss and the fleeting memory of a loved one that I want to highlight and annotate - I am ordering a physical copy to reread. Highly recommend!
emotional
reflective
slow-paced
Content Warnings
Graphic: Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Death of parent
emotional
sad
fast-paced
It’s a story of love, pain, regret, and loss that clearly took a lot of courage and resolve to revisit those specific moments in the past and put them to paper.
However, it is not well written. The editors did the author a disservice. Using the word “metaphor” and explaining the metaphor is like needing to explain a joke. If you have to explain it, it’s not very good. I lost count after the fifth time she wrote “metaphor” and there plenty more times after that.
The book should have started with chapter 2. I’m glad I slogged through the first chapter; the book becomes a lot more compelling as it goes along.
Recently, I read an article in the newspaper by Beth Ann Fennessy, the current poet laureate in Mississippi, and a few sentences were so well written that I had to pause and let them sink in. It was some of the best writing I’ve read in a while. It was the opposite of this book. It’s ironic that Natasha Trethewey is also a former poet laureate of Mississippi and Pulitzer Prize winner, yet such a poor writer. However, it’s to her credit that she tackled such a painful and personal story.
However, it is not well written. The editors did the author a disservice. Using the word “metaphor” and explaining the metaphor is like needing to explain a joke. If you have to explain it, it’s not very good. I lost count after the fifth time she wrote “metaphor” and there plenty more times after that.
The book should have started with chapter 2. I’m glad I slogged through the first chapter; the book becomes a lot more compelling as it goes along.
Recently, I read an article in the newspaper by Beth Ann Fennessy, the current poet laureate in Mississippi, and a few sentences were so well written that I had to pause and let them sink in. It was some of the best writing I’ve read in a while. It was the opposite of this book. It’s ironic that Natasha Trethewey is also a former poet laureate of Mississippi and Pulitzer Prize winner, yet such a poor writer. However, it’s to her credit that she tackled such a painful and personal story.