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araeofbooks's review
challenging
dark
emotional
hopeful
mysterious
reflective
sad
medium-paced
3.5
Let me start off by saying that content warnings abound in this memoir. Be aware there is child abuse, rape, molestation, death, cancer, drug abuse, and mental illness abound throughout this book. This is all to say that the author and her mother both had very difficult childhoods and that translates into a very difficult read.
We meet the author, Stephanie Thornton Plymale, in middle age as a successful interior designer and owner of a design school. We learn that she has modeled her life on being the opposite of her mother in every way. Her mother was often unstable throughout Stephanie’s childhood, in and out of mental institutions and prison, with an array of boyfriends and often spouting off nonsensical delusions. This left Stephanie and her siblings in and out foster care situations and with no stability in their early lives.
The first part of this book really focuses on Stephanie’s early years, her contentious relationship with her mother, the difficulties in her marriage. It was hard to get through. What I found most fascinating was the second part of the book. Her mother is ill and Stephanie sees this as her chance to interview her mother to learn more about her childhood memories and ask about her heritage that have always been unknown. Stephanie learns more about her mother’s younger years and comes to understand her mother in a way she never has, and that allows her to find compassion for her mother.
I thought the end of this book was a beautiful story about forgiveness and understanding our parents as people with their own difficult lives, though I think everyone should know going in that it is a really hard life story and it might not be good for every reader.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Cancer, Child abuse, Death, Drug abuse, Emotional abuse, Forced institutionalization, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Mental illness, and Terminal illness
Moderate: Infidelity, Suicide, Racism, Car accident, and Miscarriage
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