Myer is not a shy writer; she covers religion, sexual abuse, suicide, reproduction, trauma, mental illness, divorce. As a poet, essayist, fiction writer, and founder of the Portuguese Artists Colony reading series, Myer’s chameleon abilities as a writer serve her well in this book. The narrative is fragmented, yet it holds together, and the writing is visceral, and unabashed ... Memoir often suffers from a sense of distance and remove as the writer reflects on the past, but Myer’s ability to embody her history infuses the text with an electric corporeality ... Stories and who gets to tell them are at the heart of this memoir ... This book gives one beautiful window into what outside the story might look like. I hope every reader allows themselves a peek.
... disturbing ... [Myer] writes beautifully and with a sense of humor, even about traumatizing events. This candid chronicle can be exhausting, and it is haunting. Some of the content is graphic, including her account of a sex party involving masks and whips in a Victorian mansion in San Francisco ... Be prepared to reflect on feminism, family, fertility, solitude, and mental health with this record of one woman’s dramatic life.
... starkly revealing ... Myer recounts in candid detail her process of self-discovery and eventual, hard-won empowerment ... An absorbing, emotionally raw confessional memoir.
Image by Gerd Altmann from Pixabay[/caption]
