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3.63 AVERAGE
3.63 AVERAGE
funny
hopeful
reflective
sad
fast-paced
reflective
sad
medium-paced
challenging
medium-paced
A fascinating beginning which draws you into this memoir of a dysfunctional family. At first I thought the non-linear structure worked very well. Things became a little choppy towards the end though.
What the fuck?
This one lost me. I was interested in this as a memoir set in Southern Alberta with a medical component but other than that I could not relate to this. I repeatedly asked myself "but why" every time we reached a decision point in the narrative. The author made it sound like nobody in the healthcare system believed that her mom was a delusional and dangerous person, but she also never really explained the backstory of her mother's behaviour. I'm not sure how everyone was supposed to just know about this extensive history of bizarre shit.
I can't think of what else to write other than I'm not sure what the overall point of this was. It didn't have me on the edge of my seat, I knew the essential plot from the synopsis, and nothing seemed to make any sense anyways. I didn't find depth in this memoir at all. The feelings described seemed mismatched to the situation given the history of all these relationships, but nothing was unpacked. At best it was confusing.
Overall wouldn't recommend this to friends but I'm going to read more reviews to see what others got out of it. Thankfully this was a fast read while I cleaned my house.
This one lost me. I was interested in this as a memoir set in Southern Alberta with a medical component but other than that I could not relate to this. I repeatedly asked myself "but why" every time we reached a decision point in the narrative. The author made it sound like nobody in the healthcare system believed that her mom was a delusional and dangerous person, but she also never really explained the backstory of her mother's behaviour. I'm not sure how everyone was supposed to just know about this extensive history of bizarre shit.
I can't think of what else to write other than I'm not sure what the overall point of this was. It didn't have me on the edge of my seat, I knew the essential plot from the synopsis, and nothing seemed to make any sense anyways. I didn't find depth in this memoir at all. The feelings described seemed mismatched to the situation given the history of all these relationships, but nothing was unpacked. At best it was confusing.
Overall wouldn't recommend this to friends but I'm going to read more reviews to see what others got out of it. Thankfully this was a fast read while I cleaned my house.
challenging
dark
emotional
sad
slow-paced
challenging
dark
sad
tense
medium-paced
I really, really detest this book. I am angry about the time it took to read it. I found nothing redeeming in the pages of a "misery memoir" that is poorly written by an author who has such incredibly tight control over what is shared. It is very clear to me that Laveau-Harvie has meticulously curated the image she wants to present.
I found the constant fluctuations in time jarring and very poorly executed: "This is February then, the February of the year I am telling you about..." the book takes place over a six-year period. Which February?! I lost track. Not to mention that beginning a paragraph with "travel back with me to" or "here's how it went back then" does not help to orient the reader in the narrative, at all. You know what does? Dates. They're simple and they take up very little narrative space. Instead, we jump back and forth without reference or warning. There is one section where the sentence "here we are then, in the back story, a year and a half before my mother collapses on the kitchen floor ..." occurs shortly after "so here we are then, up to where I am planning a trip ..." Up to? Are you joking? Up to where? Now we're conflating time and place? This, from the author that complains about poor grammar in interviews.
I really do not understand her approach to a non-linear story. I also do not understand the constant use of "we." Laveau-Harvie assumes a familiarity with the reader that I find odd. Second voice needs to be executed carefully. Shifting from a paragraph in which the "you" is Laveau-Harvie to a "we" including the reader is just strange, especially since there are no quotation marks. I also do not appreciate a memoirist asking the reader questions: "do you want this digression? It would be awfully long and take us far away from here, so maybe later." No, in fact, I do not. This is a memoir, not a casual conversation. Herein lies the problem for me: it seems as though Laveau-Harvie would prefer to be speaking to the reader instead of presenting a finished narrative. I am not interested in a conversation that includes name-calling and stereotyping at every opportunity. The worst part is when she berates poorly paid home care workers when recalling a conversation with an agency: " [nameless person] explains the situation: that she can find new helpers but that the delusional, kleptomaniac, serial killer, drug-addled, gold-digging bunch we've had are the cream of the crop."
I did not find this memoir humourous at all; I found it to be laced with immature and offensive stereotypes and statements. I do not understand how it won a prize?!
I found the constant fluctuations in time jarring and very poorly executed: "This is February then, the February of the year I am telling you about..." the book takes place over a six-year period. Which February?! I lost track. Not to mention that beginning a paragraph with "travel back with me to" or "here's how it went back then" does not help to orient the reader in the narrative, at all. You know what does? Dates. They're simple and they take up very little narrative space. Instead, we jump back and forth without reference or warning. There is one section where the sentence "here we are then, in the back story, a year and a half before my mother collapses on the kitchen floor ..." occurs shortly after "so here we are then, up to where I am planning a trip ..." Up to? Are you joking? Up to where? Now we're conflating time and place? This, from the author that complains about poor grammar in interviews.
I really do not understand her approach to a non-linear story. I also do not understand the constant use of "we." Laveau-Harvie assumes a familiarity with the reader that I find odd. Second voice needs to be executed carefully. Shifting from a paragraph in which the "you" is Laveau-Harvie to a "we" including the reader is just strange, especially since there are no quotation marks. I also do not appreciate a memoirist asking the reader questions: "do you want this digression? It would be awfully long and take us far away from here, so maybe later." No, in fact, I do not. This is a memoir, not a casual conversation. Herein lies the problem for me: it seems as though Laveau-Harvie would prefer to be speaking to the reader instead of presenting a finished narrative. I am not interested in a conversation that includes name-calling and stereotyping at every opportunity. The worst part is when she berates poorly paid home care workers when recalling a conversation with an agency: " [nameless person] explains the situation: that she can find new helpers but that the delusional, kleptomaniac, serial killer, drug-addled, gold-digging bunch we've had are the cream of the crop."
I did not find this memoir humourous at all; I found it to be laced with immature and offensive stereotypes and statements. I do not understand how it won a prize?!
challenging
dark
mysterious
medium-paced