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A review by kkilburn
All That Is Bitter and Sweet: A Memoir by Maryanne Vollers, Ashley Judd
5.0
I don't read memoirs very often, but was moved to pick this book up based on the glowing blurbs that promised a passionate accounting of how Judd's global activism led to her profound recovery from a childhood of abuse and neglect. I am very glad I did. I give the book 5 stars not because the writing is particularly luminous or the story of abuse and recovery particularly unique, but because I repeatedly found myself deeply, personally moved by the essential truths Judd has discovered and by the fearlessness with which she continues to serve what she calls the "global south", in particular women and girls devastated by gender inequality, poverty, and disease. I don't know that I will reread the whole thing, but I've marked many, many passages that I know I'll return to frequently.
In the book, Judd intertwines the story of her childhood (filled with abuse and neglect) with the work she has done as an ambassador for Population Services International - work that has taken her to the worst slums, brothels, and displaced persons camps India, Southesast Asia, Africa, and South America have to offer. Her experiences on her first such trip ultimately led to her confront the damage done to her throughout her own childhood and to begin her personal journey of healing and recovery. She shares with us the deep pain and the glory of that process, as well as its impact on her relationship with the God of her understanding and on her continued work for social justice. The latter, just for the record, she shares by sharing the stories of the people she meets, from sex slaves to labor slaves to people living in the most abject poverty. Her work goes far beyond that, but it begins there.
Judd shares authorship with journalist Maryanne Vollers. Based on the acknowledgements, I suspect that Vollers' contributions were largely structural and editorial; I am fairly confident that the voice we read is Judd's own. That voice is true, powerful and articulate, but doesn't always make for the smoothest reading - I had to go back and read many sentences more than once to make sense of them. But that was a minor annoyance - in all other ways, the stories here are well told and well worth reading.
In the book, Judd intertwines the story of her childhood (filled with abuse and neglect) with the work she has done as an ambassador for Population Services International - work that has taken her to the worst slums, brothels, and displaced persons camps India, Southesast Asia, Africa, and South America have to offer. Her experiences on her first such trip ultimately led to her confront the damage done to her throughout her own childhood and to begin her personal journey of healing and recovery. She shares with us the deep pain and the glory of that process, as well as its impact on her relationship with the God of her understanding and on her continued work for social justice. The latter, just for the record, she shares by sharing the stories of the people she meets, from sex slaves to labor slaves to people living in the most abject poverty. Her work goes far beyond that, but it begins there.
Judd shares authorship with journalist Maryanne Vollers. Based on the acknowledgements, I suspect that Vollers' contributions were largely structural and editorial; I am fairly confident that the voice we read is Judd's own. That voice is true, powerful and articulate, but doesn't always make for the smoothest reading - I had to go back and read many sentences more than once to make sense of them. But that was a minor annoyance - in all other ways, the stories here are well told and well worth reading.