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A review by noel_b
Memorial Drive: A Daughter's Memoir by Natasha Trethewey
challenging
dark
emotional
mysterious
reflective
sad
tense
4.0
A beautiful, thoughtful and reflective memoir about the nature of memory itself: what it means to remember and forger, how creating narratives helps us survive, and how someone's absence can shape our life.
It deals with difficult topics: the author's mother was murdered by her ex-stepfather when she was only 19. This memoir is her trying to make sense of the event and her life before and after. She was also a biracial girl born when interracial marriage was still illegal in Mississippi, which also shapes her childhood in sometimes violent ways.
Trethewey does not flinch from the ugliest parts of humanity, but she treats them with compassion and nuance. She's a poet and it shows in the beauty of her language, the rhythm of the narrative and the sensitivity of her perspective.
This was a hard book to read but so worth it.
It deals with difficult topics: the author's mother was murdered by her ex-stepfather when she was only 19. This memoir is her trying to make sense of the event and her life before and after. She was also a biracial girl born when interracial marriage was still illegal in Mississippi, which also shapes her childhood in sometimes violent ways.
Trethewey does not flinch from the ugliest parts of humanity, but she treats them with compassion and nuance. She's a poet and it shows in the beauty of her language, the rhythm of the narrative and the sensitivity of her perspective.
This was a hard book to read but so worth it.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Domestic abuse, Murder, Mental illness, Bullying, Death of parent, Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, Racism, Cursing, Sexism, Death, Misogyny, Child abuse, Grief, Gun violence, Stalking, and Racial slurs