85tarheel's review against another edition
5.0
“Memorial Drive’ is a wonderful piece of beauty borne out of a horror so deep it is hard to imagine. Reading it made me hurt in many ways but it lifted me up and filled me with grace in ways that matter far more. I am not familiar with Ms. Tretheway’s work as I will freely admit I am not a fan of poetry and I often feel I don’t really “get” it. Her writing is simply gorgeous. It is a short book and many of the chapters are very brief but that comes out of her deftness with prose. She never skimps or leaves anything out, she simply includes everything that is needed and nothing more. As one would expect from an accomplished poet the imagery in the book is subtle and remarkable. I love when you are reading a memoir and you end up feeling like the author is sitting next to you, telling you the story of their life, and that is exactly how I felt reading this. I was surprised by how much of her story of her childhood linked up with moments in my life. She is 4 years younger than me and lived in a very different environment but it is good to remember how much we share. I especially identified with her memories of the library. She talks about trips with her Mom and remembers them being “most often to the public library where the pale blue card with my name printed on it was a currency worth more than gold.” I wish all children would know that joy. Reading is an amazing portal to find the similarities and differences that make us all so interesting. She is honest and open about the story of her mother’s life and death and the honesty makes it all so poignant. In the end I am once again left to wonder why as a society we produce so many men who feel they need to be violent toward women. Why we produce so many people who think guns are a birthright and the solution to all their problems. And why as a society we punish so many people harshly for non-violent crimes but act like beating your wife is not that big of a deal. “Memorial Drive” is a road that leads you though almost every emotion there is, but in the end it made me feel better for having read it and for writers like Natasha Tretheway being in the word.
notesonbookmarks's review against another edition
5.0
This book is gorgeous and terrible and beautiful.
book_katalog's review against another edition
emotional
4.0
Narrated by author.
Her memoir interweaves historical events. It’s sad and raw.
Her memoir interweaves historical events. It’s sad and raw.
losh's review against another edition
dark
emotional
mysterious
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
4.0
theythemsam's review against another edition
4.75
This was such a heavy but great book and I wish nothing but for best for Natasha. Also highlights how important it is to take domestic violence seriously when reported, either to the police or family members. It’s so sad how normalized DV is that people don’t respond with haste until it’s too late, and this is a perfect example of that.
quinetta's review against another edition
5.0
I had to stop a few times while listening to this book because some of it was hard to get through or that I needed to just stop and reflect on what I just heard. The authors recollection of her childhood memories and interactions was refreshing for me as I felt it was honest and didn’t try so hard to turn all bad or negative situations into a positive….she wrote about it exactly how she remembered and we are left to unpack it.