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4.34 AVERAGE
4.34 AVERAGE
I listened to the audiobook of this, but I think I would have preferred to read this rather than listen to it.
emotional
sad
medium-paced
"Do you know what it means to have a wound that never heals?"
Oh, my heart.
Natasha Trethewey's Memorial Drive: A Daughter's Memoir is so vulnerable, so raw and deeply personal that it feels like we're reading along as she journals through her grief. It's a story both heartbreaking and all too familiar--a beautiful, brilliant young mother murdered after leaving the abusive husband who refused to let her go. The final conversations between her mother and stepfather, recorded in the days leading up to her death, are chilling. The reader sees firsthand the manipulation, blame, and threats employed by an abuser trying to regain control. He told her he was going to kill her. She recorded the threats for the police. And still it wasn't enough. Another Black woman falls through the cracks, failed by the system.
This memoir is beautifully written. Reading it hurts. But I am so glad I did.
Oh, my heart.
Natasha Trethewey's Memorial Drive: A Daughter's Memoir is so vulnerable, so raw and deeply personal that it feels like we're reading along as she journals through her grief. It's a story both heartbreaking and all too familiar--a beautiful, brilliant young mother murdered after leaving the abusive husband who refused to let her go. The final conversations between her mother and stepfather, recorded in the days leading up to her death, are chilling. The reader sees firsthand the manipulation, blame, and threats employed by an abuser trying to regain control. He told her he was going to kill her. She recorded the threats for the police. And still it wasn't enough. Another Black woman falls through the cracks, failed by the system.
This memoir is beautifully written. Reading it hurts. But I am so glad I did.
challenging
dark
emotional
reflective
medium-paced
This book is a memoir rich in description, character development, and courage. I guess it takes a Poet Laureate with a Pulitzer Prize to string words together so it weaves a spell for the reader.
Natasha Trethewey lost her mother when she was nineteen to a brutal vicious attack by her stepfather, Joel Grimmette. Gwendolyn passionately loved her daughter from a previous marriage and her son with Joel. What we see is a growing mixed race child while she has to deal with a violent stepfather in addition to everything else that is part of teenage years. Gwendolyn walks a tight rope through a day-to-day assault. We see domestic violence more clearly than ever through Natasha’s narrative.
This book is one of the best memoirs I have ever read. It draws out all of the emotions across the spectrum. I laughed and I cried. I know most people will be enmeshed in the racial issues. But Trethewey uses her skill to display the tender bond between a mother and daughter. It shows the ugliness of domestic violence but, but when all is said and done, this is a daughter’s empathy, love, and a tender goodbye to a truly extraordinary mother. I don’t give very many 5 stars but this is one.
I’m speechless.
Natasha Trethewey’s absolutely heartbreaking memoir blew me away in ways that are difficult to describe. Her writing is the most beautiful thing I have ever experienced - painting pain, fear, grief, and injustice in a poetic voice that fills you up and has you savoring each and every word or allegory. Her memoir about the life and unjust death of her mother was so emotionally charged and beautifully written that it felt like a song. I found myself so heavily glued to this book that I finished it from beginning to end over the course of one day.
Trethewey was absolutely not appointed Poet Laureate twice for nothing, and Memorial Drive truly secured her place as a master in her craft who will forever go down in history.
I can not recommend this book enough.
Natasha Trethewey’s absolutely heartbreaking memoir blew me away in ways that are difficult to describe. Her writing is the most beautiful thing I have ever experienced - painting pain, fear, grief, and injustice in a poetic voice that fills you up and has you savoring each and every word or allegory. Her memoir about the life and unjust death of her mother was so emotionally charged and beautifully written that it felt like a song. I found myself so heavily glued to this book that I finished it from beginning to end over the course of one day.
Trethewey was absolutely not appointed Poet Laureate twice for nothing, and Memorial Drive truly secured her place as a master in her craft who will forever go down in history.
I can not recommend this book enough.
challenging
sad
medium-paced
Content Warnings
Graphic: Physical abuse, Death of parent
challenging
emotional
reflective
sad
medium-paced
If only every brutal tragedy could be transmuted into a story of such power, meaning, and beauty. Ms. Tretheway's memoir left me floored. I turned the last page wanting to hug both my mother, and my daughter.
emotional
reflective
sad
medium-paced