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Category: Memoirs

Review: Still Life With a Brass Pole by Craig Machen

[ 3 ] October 6, 2011

Reviewed by Melanie Kline

Fast paced and amusing in the beginning, Still Life With Brass Pole begins to slow and become repetitive by the middle and agonizing at the end.

I found tale after tale of a middle schooler smoking pot, having sex, stealing, skipping school and being a complete juvenile delinquent with absolutely no repercussions tiring. By the time Craig gets to high school, the plot becomes extremely predictable and you know that you are about to read about more drugs, sex, stealing, etc. with once again, zero consequences.

At one point in the book, Craig describes a game his father used to play with him where his father sneaks up on him, holds him down and inserts his finger into Craig’s ass. Many incidences of this are mentioned and I was extremely troubled by the fact that no one seemed to think that this was wrong. Craig did not like it, but he never seemed to realize how wrong it truly was.

While Still Life With Brass Pole may be based on fact, as it is a memoir, I had to question why anyone would want to put this kind of story out there for the world to see? There was so much random sex with not only strippers, but any girl he happened across that I had to ask myself what the point of sharing this was. I certainly hope that middle school aged children don’t get a copy of this book as Craig seems to be trying to glamorize his indiscriminate sex habits, drug use and deviant behavior.

I found much of Still Life With Brass Pole hard to believe since it seemed that no matter where Craig moved, the drugs and sex were readily available to a middle school aged child. I am by no means saying that it isn’t possible for a middle schooler to have access to these things, I just had a very hard time believing that it was always extremely accessible no matter where he was.

Rating: 0.5/5

Review copy was provided free of any obligation by Craig Machen. No monetary or any other form of compensation was received.

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Review: The Long Goodbye by Megan O’Rourke

[ 6 ] September 26, 2011

Reviewed by Jennifer Leisey

When Meghan’s mother, Barbara Kelly O’Rourke, passes away from metastatic colorectal cancer on Christmas Day, Meghan thought she had prepared herself. She quickly discovers that, at least for her, losing her mother is not nearly as difficult as the aftermath of letting go and learning to live in a world without her mom.

The Long Goodbye chronicles the fifteen months following the death of Meghan’s mother, in snapshots of memories of her mother, snippets of poetry and prose about mourning, and scientific/psychoanalytic information blended into a candid and courageous memoir of life and loss. Meghan writes openly about her struggles with the socially accepted timeframe for bereavement, the unanswerable questions of existence and the afterlife, coming to terms with mortality, and the desire for her mother to simply come back.

One of the strikingly authentic attributes of The Long Goodbye is the inclusion of the good, the bad, and the really bad moments that Megan and the O’Rourke family deal with as their mother struggles with, and eventually loses her long battle with cancer. While the story focuses primarily on the narrator, The Long Goodbye’s description of grief and its affect on the family unit is as beautiful as it is bittersweet.

O’Rourke’s memoir is a tribute to the memory of her mother and a therapeutic tool for a daughter, searching for a way to grieve. And although O’Rourke begins the book by stating that she doesn’t “pretend that it is universal”, it is uncannily easy to identify with the narrator’s emotional process and experience with mourning and healing. In many passages of the story, I became immersed in my own memories of my father’s passing, especially as O’Rourke detailed the first few agonizing, numbing days of loss. Because O’Rourke’s memoir is so deeply personal, there is true, unmistakable compassion and camaraderie for other grievers in her words.

Rating: 4/5

Since graduating from Kutztown University of Pennsylvania with a BA in Professional Writing, Jenn works as a freelance writer, poet, and blogger at south of sheridan. She resides in Pennsylvania with her husband, and loves baking, crafting, and anything that requires a hot glue gun.

Review copy was provided free of any obligation by Riverhead Books. No monetary or any other form of compensation was received.

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Review: Tout Sweet by Karen Wheeler

[ 18 ] September 13, 2011

Reviewed by Jill Elizabeth

Today’s book review is for a fabulous memoir that rang more than a little true for me personally.

Tout Sweet is the story of Karen Wheeler, a rather high-end fashion journalist in London, who decides to pack her entire life up and leave the city to move to a rural village in France and renovate an old farmhouse. The decision is sparked by two things – the devastating end of her latest relationship and an increasing sense of ennui and disillusionment with her fashion-girl life and its obsessive focus on accumulating things. As you would expect, the story runs the emotional gamut – it alternates between hysterical ex-patriot escapades and old house/contractor challenges, heartbreaking moments of loneliness, uplifting tidbits of self-realization and demonstrations of inner strength. It is, in short, a story of everyday life.

As Karen travels down her new, decidedly more casual and less Prada-full path, she comes to realize that wherever in the world you may go, you are still you there – which means you can’t run from your problems, dissatisfactions, or emotions, because they have a nasty tendency to follow you. As someone who has also walked away from city life and a fairly high-powered career and materialistic lifestyle, I cannot tell you how many times I found myself smiling or laughing as I realized how absolutely positively spot-on Wheeler’s words felt. She balances personal drama and emotions with descriptions, facts, and settings in a way that leaves you utterly involved in her life and yet still able to imagine your own self in her (oh-so-fabulous) shoes. And she does so in a way that keeps you as a reader engaged from start to finish.

It is easy to see how Wheeler achieved success in London and managed to maintain her career after her decision to walk away from the urban fashionista world and into the life of a country girl. Her writing is clear and concise yet descriptive, and crisp. The pacing is excellent – the story blends seamlessly from emotional highs to emotional lows (rather the way real life tends to) and Wheeler knows exactly when the reader needs a light-hearted moment or silly anecdote to keep the story from falling into self-pitying territory.

Rating: 5/5

A former corporate attorney and government relations/health policy executive, Jill-Elizabeth walked away from that world (well, skipped actually) and toward a more literary life (equally challenging, but infinitely more enjoyable). If you enjoyed this review, please visit her at Jill-Elizabeth.com, the official home of All Things Jill-Elizabeth – that is, all of the teehees, musings, rants, book reviews, writing exercises, and witticisms of her burgeoning writing career.

Review copy was provided free of any obligation by Sourcebooks. No monetary or any other form of compensation was received.

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Review: Critical Care by Theresa Brown

[ 3 ] September 10, 2011

Reviewed by Poppy Johnson

Theresa Brown’s book Critical Care is a great read for anyone interested in learning how a nurse gets through her own critical first year of nursing. Brown was a Tufts English writing professor who gave it up to become a nurse. She writes with clarity and with empathy for her patients. The book highlights several pivotal moments in her career and shows how she had to learn about the profession and about herself in an effort to better serve the patients that she cared for.

Brown understands her role as a nurse and caregiver. Later in the memoir, she shows how the roles are reversed when she suffers a loss and becomes a patient herself. Brown’s writing is candid and the feelings are real and expressed in a way to draw the reader in. It is easy to forget that Critical Care isn’t fiction, but a true account of a nurse as she finds her place in a profession she truly believes she can improve with her input.

Rating: 4/5

Interested in other medical non-fiction? Check out our other reviews:

The Color of the Atmosphere by Dr. Maggie Kozel

Health Scare: The Truth Behind America’s Health Care Crisis by Rene P. Moret

Surviving Your Doctors by Richard Klein, MD

After a decade of working in several NYC law departments and teaching, Poppy decided she enjoyed writing full-time. She currently works as a freelance writing consultant, and lives with her husband and sons on the East Coast.

Review copy was provided free of any obligation by HarperOne. No monetary or any other form of compensation was received.

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Review: I Wore the Ocean in the Shape of a Girl by Kelle Groom

[ 5 ] September 5, 2011

Reviewed by Jodi Horsley

I Wore the Ocean in the Shape of a Girl, a memoir, was not an easy read by any means. The narrative flows from point in time to point in time with regularity between past and present. The book tells the story of an alcoholic, through her treatment and multiple relapses. Kelle Groom shares how far into the abyss she fell and how difficult it was to climb out.

I Wore the Ocean begins with Kelle giving birth at the age of 19 to her son Tommy. She gets to hold her son two times before she hands him over to her aunt and uncle who adopt him. Since Kelle discovered alcohol at 15, she has been in no shape to take care of herself, let alone a baby. At nine months, Tommy is diagnosed with Leukemia and dies when he is only 14 months old. Most of Groom’s narrative involves her son and her desire to reconnect with this missing part of her self which directs her actions throughout her life.

Kelle goes into intimate detail about her downward out of control spiral and her insatiable desire to know her son. The kind of child he was, his likes, dislikes and even his death. After losing her son a second time (to death), Kelle continues her struggles with alcohol and self-destruction – showing up late to school drunk or skipping it completely and blacking out at bars. Luckily, Kelle does seek sobriety. She drops her drinking buddies and finds employment where she makes new supporting friends. She completes her bachelors and even continues on to graduate school where she majors in creative writing. However, there is still an ever present sadness – which is one of the reasons she wrote this book, in hopes that it will bring her some solace.

I Wore the Ocean was a difficult book to read, although it was also a great book. It is beautifully written and it is easy to see the poet coming through. Groom’s words are honest and raw, and her amazing will to survive to tell her story is inspiring. It is inspiring not only to others who are facing their own descent into a personal hell, but for those who know loved ones who are also in the tight grip of substance abuse. There is some skipping around in the timeline which can make it a little confusing at times, but it certainly does not take away from the intensity of the story.

I felt some satisfaction in knowing that Groom does comes to terms with what happened to her – overcoming alcoholism, surviving devastating things like rape, the loss of her son and the sadness that enveloped her life.

Rating: 5/5

Jodi lives in the western suburbs of Illinois with her husband, her elementary school daughter, and preschool boy/girl twins. She is an avid reader and loves losing herself in a good book. She has a Master’s in Information Technology and has been a WAHM mom for 4 years now.

Review copy was provided free of any obligation by Free Press. No monetary or any other form of compensation was received.

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Review: Ask Me Why I Hurt by Dr. Randy Christensen

[ 4 ] August 31, 2011

Reviewed by Alyssa Katanic

“Wow!” That was my first reaction to Dr. Randy Christensen’s autobiography, Ask Me Why I Hurt. For so many of us, the life of a homeless teenager (and what brought them to homelessness) is far beyond our worst imaginings. I admit, when I picked up this book I half expected a somewhat triumphal read detailing the fairytale endings they were able to reach. Let’s just say that the reality is definitely more towards the grim and does not always end with a “happily ever after” … but, sometimes it does.

Ask Me Why I Hurt is an eye-opening read on many different levels. The most obvious is the work of Dr. Christensen and his crew on the “Big Blue Bus” (the Crews’n Healthmobile) with the homeless teens of the Phoenix, Arizona area. Dr. Christensen also gives us a very personal glimpse into the real life of a doctor/husband/father: how he views his work, the time and emotion it requires, and the effects of that on his relationship with his wife and children. He is very candid and the transparency is refreshing.

Many of the stories of the teens with whom Dr. Christensen works are emotionally hard to get through. Their daily lives, and the childhood events that lead them there, will blow you away and leave you with a deeper understanding and compassion for them and those like them in your area. I am sure that Ask Me Why I Hurt is still just the tip of the iceberg, as far as what these children, and many like them, go through. I would not say, however, that it was emotionally draining to read. Instead, it stirs up the desire to love those around us, protect them, and look for ways to reach out to others. At the end of the book, Dr. Christensen includes a list of organizations through which you can do just that.

Rating: 5/5

Alyssa is a wife and stay at home, homeschooling mother of five, with two boxers, two cats, a soft shelled turtle named after Bob the Builder, and 7 frogs (admittedly a homeschooling project gone froggy). In all her spare time, she loves to read and believes that there is no such thing as having too many books!

Review copy was provided free of any obligation by Broadway. No monetary or any other form of compensation was received.

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Review: Skylights and Screen Doors by Dean J. Smart

[ 4 ] August 31, 2011

Reviewed by Claudia Robinson

“Her steel eyes keep looking at me as if they’re searching for my approval-like she wants to know if I believe her. Fuck, I do not believe any of this shit, including her. Right then, I know. I know she has something to do with this. I can’t look at her or the flashing lights shining in through the windows.” Dean Smart, after the murder of his brother, Gregg in Skylights and Screen Doors.

On May 1, 1990, 24-year-old Gregg Smart, an Insurance Agent in Derry, NH, and husband of Pamela Smart, became the victim of one the most scandalous love/crime stories of the 20th century. In an attempt to sustain a relationship with a 15-year-old student, and not lose custody of her dog, or apartment in a divorce, Pamela conspired with her young lover to murder her husband. What followed, was the most sensational murder trial in New Hampshire history. Pamela was eventually convicted of murder-conspiracy and being an accomplice to murder and was sentenced to automatic life without parole at Bedford Hills correctional facility in Westchester County, NY.

Skylights and Screen Doors is a memoir written by Dean, Gregg’s younger brother, about life before the murder in the Smart house and the happenstances leading up to the fateful day of Gregg’s murder. Written in a very personal manner, Skylights and Screen Doors offers an intimate glimpse in to the idyllic life of an American family, their bonds, their love and the tragedy and loss of a beloved and idolized older brother and son. I can’t imagine the courage that it took, and the emotional impact it must have had on Dean to write this book. Insightful, sad, and bittersweet, it’s a great inside view of a family and the devastation caused at the hand of a very sick and deluded woman.

Unfortunately, I couldn’t get in to it, despite being interested. It was written in an infantile manner that distracted me from the story. Jagged and fragmented, it read more like a personal diary than a memoir. I gave it my best shot, because having lost a sibling, too, I understand the slice of pain an untimely death can wield, but there wasn’t a flow, or consistency in the writing style, rendering it immature and annoying, rather than informative and enlightening.

As a ‘book’, Skylights and Screen Doors isn’t good reading, at all. As a insider source of a family’s pain, trials and tribulations, it’s alright, at best. The final presentation to the public, in my opinion, should have been more polished and fine tuned. I, do however, want to state for the record, that I applaud and commend Dean for putting his thoughts and feelings to paper and shedding light on such a private matter. I hope the journey this book took him on was therapeutic and will have served to heal some of his wounds.

Rating: 2/5

Claudia lives on beautiful Cape Cod with her husband and two children.

Review copy was provided free of any obligation by Author Marketing Experts. No monetary or any other form of compensation was received.

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Review: Tolstoy and the Purple Chair by Nina Sankovitch

[ 6 ] August 29, 2011

Reviewed by Rachel Mann

Nina Sankovitch’s Tolstoy and the Purple Chair first intrigued me because of its subject: a year of reading. What a luxury! I wanted to know how Sankovitch arranged this and what kinds of books she read during her year. It turns out that she met the ambitious goal of reading a book a day, while also following the requirement that each book had to be one she hadn’t read before. These guidelines seem like a great way to approach such a project; there are so many books out there that so many of us will never get the chance to read. While a year might sound like a lot at first, it’s only 365 days, and that allows only 365 books. (Of course, there are some books you just can’t do justice to in a day, which limits the scope of her project, too.) Even after Sankovitch’s year, there’s so much more out there to keep reading, and her book shows what an exciting feeling that is.

While she spends her year reading, Sankovitch mourns for the loss of her sister. As she reads, her books become like therapy, and she employs the concepts in them as a means of working through her grief, coming to terms with the idea of moving on while leaving her sister behind. As a result, we learn almost as much about Sankovitch’s relationship with her sister as we do about Sankovitch herself.

I share the desire to read new books as much as the next person, but I love rereading old favorites, too. While reading Tolstoy and the Purple Chair, I found myself wishing that we could witness Sankovitch returning to more of her old favorites as well. She makes a good case for going on and reading previously unknown works, but I missed hearing about that sense of pleasure that comes from actively rereading books one loved in the past.

Rating: 3/5

Rachel, who has a Ph.D. in English, is a freelance writer/editor and a voracious reader. You can talk to her about books at http://twitter.com/writehandmann.

Review copy was provided free of any obligation by Harper. No monetary or any other form of compensation was received.

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