One of my goals this summer was to read a variety of memoirs to get an idea of different styles, structure, and basic formats since I’m trying to write my own. (Did I just say that out loud? Anyone want to be my agent and help me? LOL)
Anyway. Baby steps. So far this summer I’ve read:
An Abbreviated Life by Ariel Leve (Her style of writing was suggested to me to consider as possibly similar to my own. And if you've been reading my stuff this summer, you would see I've been trying out the style with a little more intention - and enjoyed it. I found I also liked her story because I could relate emotionally to it as it centered on her rocky relationship with her mom, albeit totally different circumstances.)
Faith Unraveled by Rachel Held Evans (I wanted to read a selection from her because she is popular in the Twitter ex-evangelical groups, and I was curious if her doubts and questions were similar to my doubts and questions. Of course they were - from 10-15 years ago - and maybe everyone has had these questions. So quite a bit was relatable. And, I did like that the style is easy for dumb-dumbs like me to read and understand someone else’s experience. I liked her dry humor.)
A Walk in the Woods by Bill Bryson (Someone on Twitter suggested this book as a funny memoir. It was a fun and informative account of hiking the Appalachian Trail for weeks on end. Gave me the feeling of being there so now I never need to do it. I loved the sarcasm and humor about the hard stuff. He speaks my language. The funny thing is the length of the book made me feel like I was ready for it to end which I think mirrored his own desire for some of the longer hikes to end. LOL)
The Yellow House by Sarah M. Broom (This was the hardest memoir to get through which means I have the most to say about it, I guess. For some reason her writing style left me lost in the story. I had no idea where it was going. Maybe that was the author’s intent. I felt like I needed to keep going back and forth in the book to remind myself who all the people she was referring to were. I was often confused, but plowed through more for “research” of memoirs than anything else. Her personal story of her family living through the disruption of Katrina from a perspective of a very poor and displaced family was definitely interesting, however the format or style was hard for me to “live” the story. I wanted too. I could feel she was therapeutically working through the pain of her past, looking for roots and connections. It's a sad story, and God knows I love a sad story. Maybe it covered too much ground for one book, an attempt to address too many hard aspects of her life instead of focusing on one. I know I’m tempted to talk too much about stuff no one wants to hear about, too. But I was ready for it to end at about halfway through. Side note: her mother seems to be the heroine of the story rather than herself.)
Everything Happens for a Reason by Kate Bowler (Just finished this book this morning. I chose it because of the annoying title, and I’m thinking now I may not need to finish my own memoir. She says all the things with the perfect mix of dark humor and sarcasm. I loved the shorter length because for me a memoir is basically an organized longer blog post or series of blog posts. It’s a glimpse into someone’s headspace for a while, but not too long. I love that she puts her personal struggle, doubts, and thoughts out there with a nice open ending so that anything can happen next. Because that is life. I love that even though her subject matter is cancer, anyone who considers they have a personal tragedy in their life can relate to all the feels, questions, and open ended unknown.
So this is what I've learned this summer: If my story doesn't make people laugh in the midst of crying then I will have failed.
Goals. #amIright ?
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