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A review by bookishheather
A Girl from Yamhill by Beverly Cleary
5.0
When I was growing up in Portland, OR, Beverly Cleary was seen as a hometown hero. It was common knowledge that the Ramona universe was set in our fair city. In fact, it was not until college I realized just how widespread her fame was.
It probably shouldn't have been such a surprise to me then that this book knocked my socks off. I mean, think about it, me: this book is a memoir. She was born in Oregon and spent much of her childhood in Portland. And yet somehow, even though I was interested in the book in 1996 when it was first published, I eventually failed to remember all the reasons I could like it. It gently eroded from my memory until I came across a copy recently for $2 at a thrift shop.
It's not just the regional topics that make me love the book so much, but the execution thereof. Obviously she is a skilled writer, and this book is full of lovely, poignant passages. Cleary describes a simple childhood in the Willamette Valley and the challenges her parents faced. One paragraph about the Willamette Valley weather and the view from the family's farmhouse nails the location perfectly.
Cleary reminisces about Portland in its better days, in great detail. (In fact, she used a couple of quirky phrases I used to hear all the time, but realized I haven't even uttered myself in years. A sad realization about the city's more recent transformation.) I found a lot of value in reading a literary sketch of Portland during the Great Depression, and getting to see just how things were impacting normal middle-class families. Since my family is going through some difficult financial times, that material was particularly interesting. And speaking of families, she covers her strained relationship with her mother, which I wouldn't have expected to get discussed quite so frankly in a memoir like this.
If that wasn't enough, there were some very beautiful passages about how she discovered the building blocks that would make her the nationally known author she is today. She makes it clear through some very specific references that she was one of her books' main characters in her youth.
Often I feel a weird kinship to Beverly Cleary, like she is my karmic grandmother. Not only does she look similar to my grandmother, but she has a deep connection to Oregon that I don't feel others in my family have. She was born here, and being in Oregon is all she knew for a very long time. Her attention to detail echoes mine, and her humor never fails to make me laugh, even as an adult. She's like the grandmother that just gets you. Except I suspect every child who read her books growing up might say the same...
If you were born in the Willamette Valley or Portland, if you'd like to get a sense of an Oregon past, definitely give this a read.
It probably shouldn't have been such a surprise to me then that this book knocked my socks off. I mean, think about it, me: this book is a memoir. She was born in Oregon and spent much of her childhood in Portland. And yet somehow, even though I was interested in the book in 1996 when it was first published, I eventually failed to remember all the reasons I could like it. It gently eroded from my memory until I came across a copy recently for $2 at a thrift shop.
It's not just the regional topics that make me love the book so much, but the execution thereof. Obviously she is a skilled writer, and this book is full of lovely, poignant passages. Cleary describes a simple childhood in the Willamette Valley and the challenges her parents faced. One paragraph about the Willamette Valley weather and the view from the family's farmhouse nails the location perfectly.
Cleary reminisces about Portland in its better days, in great detail. (In fact, she used a couple of quirky phrases I used to hear all the time, but realized I haven't even uttered myself in years. A sad realization about the city's more recent transformation.) I found a lot of value in reading a literary sketch of Portland during the Great Depression, and getting to see just how things were impacting normal middle-class families. Since my family is going through some difficult financial times, that material was particularly interesting. And speaking of families, she covers her strained relationship with her mother, which I wouldn't have expected to get discussed quite so frankly in a memoir like this.
If that wasn't enough, there were some very beautiful passages about how she discovered the building blocks that would make her the nationally known author she is today. She makes it clear through some very specific references that she was one of her books' main characters in her youth.
Often I feel a weird kinship to Beverly Cleary, like she is my karmic grandmother. Not only does she look similar to my grandmother, but she has a deep connection to Oregon that I don't feel others in my family have. She was born here, and being in Oregon is all she knew for a very long time. Her attention to detail echoes mine, and her humor never fails to make me laugh, even as an adult. She's like the grandmother that just gets you. Except I suspect every child who read her books growing up might say the same...
If you were born in the Willamette Valley or Portland, if you'd like to get a sense of an Oregon past, definitely give this a read.