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A review by porshainielsen
Between Two Trailers by J. Dana Trent
reflective
slow-paced
4.0
I don't typically rate memoirs, but as this is an ARC, I have provided a rating.
"Old baggage was hard to let go of, no matter where we found ourselves living, no matter how new our paths looked. King had his new place on an old coal pile; I had my new master's degree from an old university. But we were still us: Vermillion County drug-running trailer trash one meth hit away from the carny caste."
This memoir follows Dana, beginning with her earliest memories of her father making her separate marijuana seeds and stems and cutting cocaine with razor blades at four years old, to dealing with her childhood trauma in college, and eventually, in her forties, learning to understand her parents behavior and mental health. This novel was really interesting for someone studying psychopathology as Dana's parents both had some very complex diagnoses. Dana's experience makes me think a lot about attachment theory and how at some point, we will either have to work through childhood trauma, or the burden will only become heavier to carry. I would recommend this to all my social work friends. I only removed a star because it did feel a little unorganized and there were some meaningless tangents. I still read them because I was invested in Dana's story and felt she deserved to tell it just how she observed it.
Thank you NetGalley for this digital ARC
"Old baggage was hard to let go of, no matter where we found ourselves living, no matter how new our paths looked. King had his new place on an old coal pile; I had my new master's degree from an old university. But we were still us: Vermillion County drug-running trailer trash one meth hit away from the carny caste."
This memoir follows Dana, beginning with her earliest memories of her father making her separate marijuana seeds and stems and cutting cocaine with razor blades at four years old, to dealing with her childhood trauma in college, and eventually, in her forties, learning to understand her parents behavior and mental health. This novel was really interesting for someone studying psychopathology as Dana's parents both had some very complex diagnoses. Dana's experience makes me think a lot about attachment theory and how at some point, we will either have to work through childhood trauma, or the burden will only become heavier to carry. I would recommend this to all my social work friends. I only removed a star because it did feel a little unorganized and there were some meaningless tangents. I still read them because I was invested in Dana's story and felt she deserved to tell it just how she observed it.
Thank you NetGalley for this digital ARC
Content Warnings
Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Child abuse, and Classism