pickEdgar says I am not journaling right now about the best book I've read so far this year. I've read several books (both fiction and nonfiction) by Sarah Moss, and damn, can she write! This was definitely her most vulnerable, and if you choose to read, proceed with caution. It's a hard subject, but she handles in well. She's sharp, intense, and brutally honest even questioning her own unreliability as a narrator of her own story.
so-soKari Ferrell was known as the Hipster Grifter in NYC after articles published gave her this moniker after the discovery of some of her scams around 2009. In her new memoir, she recounts the scams she ran on friends and family, from elementary school in Utah (after being adopted from Soith Korea), through young adulthood in Brooklyn. Terrell‘s scams targeted those closest to her. Though I typically love to read about scams, this missed the mark.
“You need a reverse ghost here, a present voice to haunt the past.“
pick⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ In a Venn diagram of hilarious southern storytellers, Corren is the intersection of David Sedaris and Leslie Jordan. In this sometimes dark, often humorous memoir, he details pivotal stories from childhood through his hot mess mother‘s death. There‘s a whole cast of siblings with funny nicknames. Thanks for the rec, @Booksnchill - You nailed the Jordan comparison which sold me on picking this up!
pickI love Moss‘s books and her writing style and this memoir explores many of the themes that come out in her fiction.
Hard to say you loved a book that‘s so full of trauma and self hate. I thought the narrative was so well done - as if keeping at arms length the horrible and harmful thoughts in her head.
I wish her all the best.
pick"Does a story's ending excuse its beginning?"
If it's wrong for a 17 year old girl to sleep with her 47 year old art teacher, does it make it any better that they marry and stay married for decades until he dies??
This memoir was thought-provoking and well done.
pickTotally unexpected how dark this would get! I read this just knowing Sarah Moss as a British literary fiction author (I‘ve only read Ghost Wall but need to change that!) with no idea what this would be about. From an unhappy childhood with “the jumbly girl” and “the owl”, her parents, to lifelong mental struggles, this was dark but so worthwhile. She wrestles with her own thoughts throughout, “that‘s not how it happened you stupid girl!” More⬇️
