Absorbing ... nlike many memoirists, she seems completely uninterested in self-mythologizing or reveling in her specialness. Though her childhood is unusually arduous, her writing is stripped of self-pity ... Snyder’s harrowing descriptions of her childhood...are precise, controlled, well-wrought ... Her restraint and pared-down prose allow the reader to enter the scene, to see, in a way that more obtrusive narration would not ... Snyder brings a journalist’s eye to her own past, applying balance and precision to intimate family scenes, which is incredibly difficult to do.
This is in many ways an inspirational book, but I wouldn’t call it a comforting one. Snyder would never succumb to the pretty idea that suffering makes a person stronger. What she does describe — vividly and powerfully — is how, instead of responding to relentless hardship by building a protective carapace against the world, she was determined to open herself up to possibility ... Her memoir is bookended by death — and also by life, since Snyder observes the world with both an unsparing eye and a generous spirit ... All of this is hard to reconcile, but Snyder’s memoir shows how one might — must — live amid multiple truths.
Snyder's memoir is as heartbreaking, wrenching and compelling as the stories of the victims in her eye-opening book on domestic violence ... The violence and neglect of her adolescence sounds nearly unsurvivable. And yet she is here, proof that there can be healing, reconciliation and professional triumph. It's my hope that the foreboding title won't keep readers away from Snyder's remarkable book.
An engrossing memoir ... Incidents of corporal punishment are searingly described and impossible to forget ... Snyder recounts her eventful life, hovering on the brink of tragedy, in vigorous prose. But the memoir, perhaps inevitably, has its share of lacunae, including a vagueness about the breakup of her marriage ... The narrative of Women We Buried, Women We Burned is at once unruly and unpredictable.
Penetrating ... Snyder delivers her inspiring story with lyrical prose and sharp insights, particularly about the fraught father-daughter relationship at its center. It’s an eloquent portrayal of the power of forgiveness.
Propulsive, forceful ... Writing with a highly effective mixture of distance, reflection, and compassion, the author never loses a palpable sense of immediacy. She has the ability to bring readers to her side, experiencing her life every step of the way. Her astonishing resilience and strength are front and center in her powerful, beautifully rendered prose ... Exceptional writing, a harrowing coming-of-age story, and critical awareness combine to make a must-read memoir.
