But, now, I'll tell you about one that I read a month or two ago.
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Walls tells her own story of growing up with an alcoholic father and... adventurous (? irresponsible?) mother. As bleak as that sounds, her father, when sober, taught her siblings and her plenty about physics, geology, and, when bill collectors came, "how to do the skedaddle." Told in a very matter-of-fact manner, Walls tells of a life of poverty and dysfunction, but with affection for her family.
I liked this book. I probably wouldn't have if Walls wouldn't have been so even-keel in her tone of telling the story. She tells the story as if every family left half a stick of butter for 3 children to have for dinner, then nada for the next two days. It haunted me -- that people really live this way. Here. In America. Yet, it encouraged me -- that people move beyond it. On their own.
I have read memoirs of similar hard times that I couldn't get through because it was told in a less gracious tone, I think. Walls retained the adventure her parents instilled in her and led me to believe it was all just that -- a grand adventure.
As tough as it was to read, I highly recommend it.
Then, Walls went on to further explain her mother by telling her grandmother's story in Half-Broke Horses. Fascinating and another great read.
Would you want to read a book like this? That you know is going to be hard?
