Little Syllables: The Blog
Review - Everything All At Once by Steph Catudal
I received a free advanced copy from NetGalley. All opinions are my own.
I specifically sought out an advanced copy of Steph Catudal’s new memoir, Everything All At Once. Ever since I started using iFit on my treadmill, I’ve been a fan of Tommy Rivs, so I began following him on Instagram. Then I started seeing his wife’s writing when he’d share it, so I started following her as well. Now, she’s written a book about her life and her experience through her husband’s cancer diagnosis and treatment.
This book is heavy, but it is very well written. Catudal’s writing is beautiful and lyrical and honest and very emotional. She tells of her father’s terminal cancer diagnosis and his death when she was still very young. She details how that trauma, combined with her religious upbringing, led her into a pretty intense rebellion. I liked reading Steph’s descriptions of what it was like to deconstruct from her religious (Mormon) upbringing because I could connect with that on a personal level.
Steph intertwines this history with the more recent past, detailing Rivs’s diagnosis and hospitalization in 2020. This intertwining of timelines works very well in this book, and eventually the timelines meet as we near the present. These dual timelines also help the reader see Steph’s arc from rebellious and headstrong teenager to loving and devoted wife and mother. And where the story of her past involves her loss of faith, the story of the more recent past involves her rebuilding of a new kind of faith.
One unusual thing about this book is its structure. While Rivs was in the hospital, Steph took to social media to share her thoughts. The final portion of this book is made up of those social media posts, most of which has been described earlier in the book. I thought this was an interesting choice to place these together at the end instead of interspersed throughout the narrative. But I still think it works.
I’ll admit, I was emotionally invested in this story before I even got my hands on a copy. I had already heard the story from Rivs on iFit, but it was incredible to read Steph’s perspective as well. I read it in a single day, and I cried. I highly recommend it for those who enjoy memoir and who are not averse to reading about intense medical treatment and the emotional impact on the patient’s family.
Sensitive readers should be aware that this book contains adult language, drug and alcohol use, sex, and terminal illness and hospitalization. It’s heavy, but in my opinion, it’s worth it.
Review - Women We Buried, Women We Burned by Rachel Louise Snyder
I received a free review copy from NetGalley. All opinions are my own.
Women We Buried, Women We Burned is a new memoir by Rachel Louise Snyder, detailing her troubled childhood and how she eventually became an international journalist and advocate for victims of domestic violence.
The memoir begins with the untimely death of Rachel’s mother and the aftermath of that enormous loss. I loved how well she described what that loss was like from a child’s perspective, realizing now all that she didn’t understand then. Her father became entrenched in an evangelical church and remarried, blending families. These events began a tumultuous cycle of domestic violence within the family, which culminated when Rachel and her siblings were kicked out of their home as teenagers.
Rachel holds little back as she describes her own culpability in the events of her teenage years. She was a rebellious child who refused to be controlled. She fell into self-destructive patterns and was expelled from her high school.
Over the years that followed, Rachel eventually found her feet. She discovered her love of writing and her love of travel. As she learned more about the world and its people, she began to better understand herself and her own family.
This book is about strong women and the things that get in their way. It’s about disease and grief and death. It’s about faith and knowledge. It’s about messy family relationships and self-discovery.
If you liked Tara Westover’s Educated, you would probably like this book as well. Sensitive readers should know this book contains adult language, sexual content, child abuse, and drug use.
Women We Buried, Women We Burned releases today (May 11, 2023).
Review - You Could Make This Place Beautiful by Maggie Smith
I received a free review copy of this book through NetGalley. All opinions are my own.
Summing It Up
Poet Maggie Smith’s memoir, You Could Make This Place Beautiful, is an emotional and powerful look at marriage, divorce, and parenting. She tries to make sense of her life using what she knows best: writing craft. She looks at her life story as a plot, even while urging readers not to do the same. She examines the story structure of her life. She even envisions it as a stage play.
All these devices help the reader see more deeply into the author’s struggle to reconcile her expectations versus her reality, to make sense of the major changes that come with the ending of a marriage and the beginning of something new.
While this book is not a straightforward narrative, it leads readers from one point to the next in an artful way. Rather than a story, it is a series of essays pieced together like fragmented thoughts. And just like the author, the reader is left with questions. That is the point, after all – we never get all the answers to life’s biggest questions. I especially appreciated the author’s conclusion that she could move on despite uncertainty.
I was intrigued by her efforts to write her own truth while protecting those she wrote about. She never names her ex-husband. She discusses her children, but explicitly tells readers when she won’t be showing certain parts of their lives. I have never read a memoir that dealt with hard issues while maintaining this level of privacy before. But it works and it feels even more personal as the author tells us what she’s not going to tell us.
Even as this is a book about the author’s own divorce, the effort she makes to see her own responsibility is obvious. It doesn’t feel like she’s blaming or vindictive. I felt that her description of what it is to be a wife is very apt. She was a woman who loved someone and worked and sacrificed to try to make it work. Then, she was left a single parent, working to provide for herself and her children, while learning to embrace her own power.
I loved it. I already plan to read it again.
Read It
You Could Make This Place Beautiful by Maggie Smith is set for release on April 11, 2023.
Review - In Herschel’s Wake by Michael Wohl
I received a free advanced copy from NetGalley. All opinions are my own.
In Herschel’s Wake tells the story of the life and death of the author’s father. Michael learns of his father’s death through unconventional means, but soon the reader learns that nothing about Herschel Wohl was conventional. His death sends Michael and his siblings (Anais and Toby) to a tiny island in the Caribbean to bury their father.
This is a family with complicated relationships, secrets, and trauma, and these three adult children come together for the first time in their lives to take care of someone who never took care of them.
More than anything, this book is about the author’s relationship with his father. He tells stories of Herschel’s break from societal norms in the ‘70s, his drug use, his ever-changing homes, and his quest to be a published author. Ultimately, Herschel is forced to flee the US and live a somewhat transient life in the Caribbean, moving whenever his past starts to catch up to him.
Now Michael, Anais, and Toby have come to Statia to sort out Herschel’s affairs, hold his funeral, and gain some sort of closure. Michael is left to sort through his father’s unsavory digital footprint and jump through hoops to bury the body. The limited services on the island mean that the most minor details are left to Michael and his siblings, from finding someone to build a casket to washing and dressing the body.
I found this book alternately interesting, disconcerting, and touching. The author works his way through his father’s life and their relationship as he works through his father’s death. Ultimately, I felt this book was about the love we have for some people even if we don’t really like them very much.
In Herschel’s Wake was published in September 2022 and is available now!
Review - Keeping Family Secrets by Margaret K. Nelson
I received a free review copy from Netgalley. All opinions are my own.
Keeping Family Secrets: Shame and Silence in Memoirs from the 1950s is a nonfiction book that felt more like a summary of more extensive data. Nelson takes several big issues around the theme of shame and silence in the 1950s and then pulls details from a variety of memoirs to explain each issue. She addresses the institutionalization of children with disabilities, same-sex attraction among boys, unwed pregnancies, Communism, adoption, and Jewish ancestry.
This book was an interesting glimpse into the 1950s in the US. Nelson did a great job explaining why each of these issues led to shame and silence throughout the country.
Americans were after the “ideal” family, and all of these issues were perceived as detracting from that goal.
Nelson looks at individual memoirs to pull stories for each chapter of her book. It is interesting to note that most of the memoirs were written by people who grew up with these secrets in their families—and decided as adults to expose the secrets.
I felt that this book gives the reader good information. But it felt very sterile and unemotional to me. Perhaps that was the author’s intent. It also felt like a fairly dry summary of other people’s work.
I suppose my impressions of this book are tainted by my expectations. I began this book looking for a deep dive into some of these issues, seeing the emotions involved, and feeling some sort of redemption for the people who lived through these things and reclaimed their power later in life by exposing these secrets. Instead, I left with more general overview of these six issues and why they were taboos in the 1950s. I was left wanting more depth.
Keeping Family Secrets was released yesterday and is available now.
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Review - The Six-Minute Memoir by Mary Helen Stefaniak
I received a free advanced copy from NetGalley. All opinions are my own.
The Six-Minute Memoir: Fifty-Five Short Essays on Life was a fun read. It’s a series of short memoirs that can be read in 6 minutes or less. This is a great book to read when you’re on the go because it’s readable in little snippets.
I’m very interested in memoir as a genre, and I think Stefaniak’s concept of the six-minute memoir could be a great way to start writing my own. She even provides prompts at the end of the book to help writers get started! Even if you’re not looking to publish memoirs, a six-minute memoir is a reasonable goal for a person who wants to write their personal history and doesn’t know where to start.
I enjoyed reading Stefaniak’s observations on the people and situations around her, as well as her descriptions of place. She does a great job with setting in each of these memoirs. She also makes great connections between seemingly disparate ideas. She is alternately funny and heartfelt, and always interesting.
The Six-Minute Memoir is new this week!
I heartily recommend it for fans of the genre and for others looking for inspiration on writing about their own lives.
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Review - Things I Learned From Falling by Claire Nelson
I received a free NetGalley of this book, but my opinions are all my own.
Things I Learned From Falling tells the true story of the author’s hiking accident in Joshua Tree National Park in 2018. Nelson weaves the story of the accident and its aftermath with stories of her past, illustrating the lessons she learned from her fall.
Nelson’s account is introspective and honest. I love that she doesn’t shy away from the nitty-gritty details of mental illness, physical injuries, and logistics of surviving in a terrible situation. I found myself amazed by her determination to survive seemingly insurmountable obstacles. Her descriptions made it easy for me to put myself in her shoes and imagine how I would act in a similar situation.
Overall, I felt this book was very well written and nicely woven together. I especially loved that the book includes safety tips for hikers. I hope the published version will also include photos!
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Review - Everything is Fine by Vince Granata
I received a free NetGalley of this book, but my opinions are all my own.
Everything is Fine tells the true story of the author’s family, his brother’s struggle with mental illness, and the tragic result. Granata is honest about his experience and what he sees as his failures. That honesty adds to the power of this book.
I love the vivid descriptions of the Granata family and their relationships. I love the complexity the author shows—nothing is simple, even in tragedy. He doesn’t try to excuse anyone’s actions or reactions, but seems determined to show the depth and complexity of his family and their story. While this book centers around an extremely violent act, I felt the true themes presented are mental illness and relationships.
The book is well written, well researched, emotional, and thought provoking. I highly recommend it.
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Review - Bicycling with Butterflies by Sara Dykman
I received a free galley through NetGalley. All opinions are my own.
This nonfiction book follows the author on a solo bike tour following the monarch butterfly migration. She set out on this tour to help raise awareness about the problems the monarchs face. Dykman biked from the monarchs’ wintering grounds in Mexico to Canada and back. She gave presentations at schools and community centers along her route, teaching people how they can help the monarch butterflies.
I enjoyed this book. I was drawn to it because I enjoy cycling, but I can’t fathom such a long bike tour. I wanted to see what that would be like.
Dykman is obviously very passionate about conservation. I liked reading about how the book combines her passions with the practical matters of a long bike tour and scientific information. She does an excellent job presenting science and conservation information in an engaging way.
There are some points in the story where Dykman gets a little preachy about conservation, but it is one of her passions, so that could be excused. It’s not overwhelming, and I actually finished this book admiring her dedication to her cause.
This is a great book for teens and adults!
Bicycling with Butterflies by Sara Dykman is available April 13, 2021.
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Where to Begin
If you’re looking to begin writing your own history, the first thing to know is that there is no wrong way to do it. The important part is to begin. You don’t have to start with your birth and end with today. Start anywhere you like and organize it later on. Look online for prompts to get the memories flowing. Here are a few links to help you get started:
This Is Me Challenge: This is an older blog, but it is a great resource for prompts. There is also a section with information on starting a history for your kids as well.
FamilySearch Blog: On the FamilySearch Blog, look for “52 Stories.” This includes prompts for each week of the year to help you write about different aspects of your life. There is also a list called “52 Stories for Families,” to help you write the story of your family.
Writing Through Life: For more in-depth writing advice on writing a memoir or history, check out this site. It has a wealth of information about how to turn memories into stories that others will enjoy reading.
A personal history could become an endless project, as every day there is more to add. Instead of being discouraged by the project, try to embrace and celebrate any progress you make. Something is better than nothing. Break it into parts. And when you come to the end of a section, hire an editor to help you with clarity and consistency. It’s worth it because every life story is worth reading. Editing can help make yours more readable. Future generations will thank you!
Get started.
Then get help.