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A review by tabitha_thorns
The House of My Mother by Shari Franke
dark
emotional
reflective
sad
slow-paced
3.75
On a craft level, this is well-written; Shari is incredibly wise and insightful when it comes to her childhood, her relationship with Ruby, and how everyone around her contributed to it.
However.
I think she really needed a couple more years to mature and process things before writing and selling this book.
At some points in the book she has maddening blind spots that contrast with her maturity through other parts of the book; the most notable to me was the way she discussed religion and the Mormon church. She is still in a high-control religion, outlines situations between Jodie and her church that seems startlingly similar...but doesn't seem to connect the dots. She spends a lot of time discussing how much she hated the media coverage and the way people felt entitled to the story of her and her siblings' lives....but if she felt that way, why write this book? In many ways Shari is wise beyond her years, but in other ways, she still has a lot of growing to do and self-awareness to achieve. Though at the same time, this book doesn't have to be a testament to Shari's maturity and revocation of religion. I wanted to hear what happened. But it's a weird feeling to read someone's memoir and feel like you're making connections that they were unable to.
However.
I think she really needed a couple more years to mature and process things before writing and selling this book.
At some points in the book she has maddening blind spots that contrast with her maturity through other parts of the book; the most notable to me was the way she discussed religion and the Mormon church. She is still in a high-control religion, outlines situations between Jodie and her church that seems startlingly similar...but doesn't seem to connect the dots. She spends a lot of time discussing how much she hated the media coverage and the way people felt entitled to the story of her and her siblings' lives....but if she felt that way, why write this book? In many ways Shari is wise beyond her years, but in other ways, she still has a lot of growing to do and self-awareness to achieve. Though at the same time, this book doesn't have to be a testament to Shari's maturity and revocation of religion. I wanted to hear what happened. But it's a weird feeling to read someone's memoir and feel like you're making connections that they were unable to.