BookReviews
Memorial Drive
A Daughter ’ s Memoir
By Natasha Trethewy ( 2020 )
from our Book Club
ARTICLE BY CAROL H .
In recognition of the 16 Days of Activism campaign that started in November , the book club chose the 2020 memoirs of Natasha Trethewey , a Pulitzer Prize-winning poet and the US Poet Laureate for 2012 and 2013 . The book is a beautifully written , heartrending account of domestic violence as viewed through the eyes of the victim ’ s daughter . We were unanimous in our assessment that the book was excellent — addressing from a unique angle an ever-increasing problem that often gets ignored , buried , and forgotten .
Trethewey ’ s mother was shot to death in 1985 in Atlanta by the author ’ s abusive stepfather . The memoir explores the long-buried past Trethewey fought to forget . Relying on memory , case documents , and transcripts of recorded phone conversations , Trethewey offers a personal depiction of domestic violence as experienced by a child and put into context by an adult . This book is not an easy read , but it is an illuminating one .
The author uses elegant prose to paint a loving childhood in the American South and the slow changes in her life as her biracial parents split apart , undoubtedly faced with undue pressures from a changing but still unaccepting society . Soon afterwards , a stepfather moves in , the tone changes , and the author sketches a portrait of her mother ’ s life as she works hard to gain recognition in her career and , at the same time , suppress the perpetually cruel and powerful forces of domestic abuse . Her daughter ( the author ) is aware of what is going on and even thinks she herself is responsible , should do something , and needs to get away ...
Thirty-five years later , the author comes to grips with her suppressed nightmare , juxtaposing the beautiful prose describing her childhood with the jarring accounts of police records in the days leading up to her mother ’ s killing and the ensuing trial . It is an abrupt but fitting end .
Our discussion kept going back to the mother — what kept her in the relationship ? What could she have changed ?
We agreed that the racial aspect of the story was not the critical theme ; we yearned to learn more about the unexplored father . In the end , we agreed that the book is about the daughter and her homage to her mother . Both were subject to wounds that never will or will only slowly heal .
The book was a good complement to our November 2020 read No Visible Bruises : What We Don ’ t Know About Domestic Violence Can Kill Us .
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