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marinaemoore's review
3.0
I thought this memoir was very poignant and appreciated how much the author shared with us.
rnshack's review
4.0
4 solid stars.
What a compelling, beautifully written memoir. It was raw and honest and I didn’t want it to end.
I really admire her bravery in telling her story. All the parts of it; I don’t know if I could be that brave.
I’d love to read more about her father and their relationship; especially since she is now out of prison.
I look forward to reading Ashley’s next book and I will definitely be checking out her podcast.
What a compelling, beautifully written memoir. It was raw and honest and I didn’t want it to end.
I really admire her bravery in telling her story. All the parts of it; I don’t know if I could be that brave.
I’d love to read more about her father and their relationship; especially since she is now out of prison.
I look forward to reading Ashley’s next book and I will definitely be checking out her podcast.
lauren_michelle's review against another edition
emotional
funny
hopeful
informative
reflective
sad
medium-paced
5.0
hiaj's review
5.0
I rated this for the mirror it provided me, and for the nuanced, heartbreaking, and yet reflective of the inner voice of my own childhood self; For the striking similarities that I found in my life and Ashleys’: the specifics of the black, under-resourced and emotionally, intellectually and economically impoverished black home.
Ashley’s memoir is life-affirming. The early chapters written from an author consistently patched in to her childhood self with early chapters written with the innocence and precision of someone who needs to share why would formative years make us who we are. That voice also moves through adolescent years and matures into adulthood but never loses its girlish roots. I believe this is because so much of who we become is rooted in our formative years, and that context never leaves us.
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I, too, was a curious, voracious reader of a mother fear-stricken, young, and desperate for love—playful, fierce (not nearly as violent), reminiscent of Whitney Houston, and moored by motherhood.
I wrote several notes in this book that don’t stand as a means for review but created deep resonance (and reparenting) for me:
- Because a child has only the world before them, every object can be a world, everyday routines and events; new sensations, shapes, and moods happening every day with new stimuli. A child has no choice but to take the world literally; deprivation of information is dangerous. Getting your hair washed really can feel like drowning. Why don’t we explain the experience of what we take for granted or experience as normal to children?
- A child is always processing the world literally and in terms of what makes them good/bad.
A mother’s mood is like the moon; tone is how children understand their own safety. Therefore, the world can be a landmine of unknown punishments (depending on the parent).
- Memory-making can mean many things: joyful picturesque family; writing with intention on one’s mind (as the author is prone to do); ensuring the truth; buying insurance for fact; building worlds (escapism or alternate realities); work product.
- Abuse is typically what prompts sex education;
- Fear of one’s own developing body, is a prison
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A beautiful retelling of harm done at the hand of men but also matriarchs. Abuse often done in the name of protection yielding the very result it tries to defend against. There is the web of family and the guilt of “making it out”. The pain of matriarchal loss, but a reclamation of self then home. One must come before the other.
kmadnick90's review
5.0
I wish I could put into words WHY this is 5 stars for me because I know not everyone feels the same. I know this memoir is not perfect. But it was perfect for me.