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A review by marilea
Memorial Drive: A Daughter's Memoir by Natasha Trethewey
5.0
I’ve been “sitting” with this book for a couple of days after finishing. It kept me from sleeping. I kept mulling over it.
I first heard the author on Fresh Air during the summer of 2020. Covid was rampant and I could not read deep so I flagged it to read later because her interview was so compelling. No spoiler here, her mother was murdered in Atlanta where I live, PLUS she was a faculty member where I worked for a long while. Her voice was so sad but clearly focused during the interview. Fast forward to 2023. I familiarized my work book club with this title and they selected it for their second meeting this October
This book is possibly the saddest book I have ever read. The author has suffered tremendous trauma, articulated in this book with a distant but almost poetic like structure in her prose-appropriate as a former US Poet Laureate. She witnessed or was met personally with racism, parental divorce, domestic violence and ultimately the murder of her mother by her stepfather. And, upon research, I see he is now out of prison- and likely haunts her safety. This is a beautifully written book and I highly recommend it but you won’t leave the book with a measure of hope, IMO, where the author moves on from her trauma. It is just not possible. I listened to the audio book for a few chapters and it is a moving reading by Ms Trethaway if you prefer listening.
I first heard the author on Fresh Air during the summer of 2020. Covid was rampant and I could not read deep so I flagged it to read later because her interview was so compelling. No spoiler here, her mother was murdered in Atlanta where I live, PLUS she was a faculty member where I worked for a long while. Her voice was so sad but clearly focused during the interview. Fast forward to 2023. I familiarized my work book club with this title and they selected it for their second meeting this October
This book is possibly the saddest book I have ever read. The author has suffered tremendous trauma, articulated in this book with a distant but almost poetic like structure in her prose-appropriate as a former US Poet Laureate. She witnessed or was met personally with racism, parental divorce, domestic violence and ultimately the murder of her mother by her stepfather. And, upon research, I see he is now out of prison- and likely haunts her safety. This is a beautifully written book and I highly recommend it but you won’t leave the book with a measure of hope, IMO, where the author moves on from her trauma. It is just not possible. I listened to the audio book for a few chapters and it is a moving reading by Ms Trethaway if you prefer listening.