Welcome to Litsy!

NT's story, from a distance of twenty years, of her mother's murder at the hands of her ex-husband. It's a deeply sad read, and poignant in that NT simultaneously needs to tell her story AND protect herself from remembering it fully.

I don't need to add, do I, how enraging it is that Gwen was not afforded the protection she so clearly needed?

Natasha Trethewey, the author of the tagged book, wrote “Thrall”, a poetry collection which explores “the historical, cultural, and social forces that determine the roles to which a mixed-race daughter and her white father are consigned.” She is the 19th Poet Laureate of the United States. A beautiful writer🥲❤️

#Thrall
#PoetryMatters
@TheSpineView

This amazing, Pulitzer Prize-winning memoir was #PublishedIn2020 I highly recommend ❤️

#MarchMagic @Alwaysbeenaloverofbooks

Its hard to read , but still I read only because of the way it is written. Honest memoir about domestic abuse and racism. It made me to think about lot of issues , and to see my life in a different prospect. 4.5⭐️

#nonfiction2022 #Outcast #bookspinbingo

A sad but beautifully written memoir. The author will share her experience of her mother tragic death, how both of them suffered from racism and domestic abuse. You can see so well the domestic abuser mind schema (if that is the correct word) in those phone calls transcripts. Could her mother‘s death have been prevented?
😢😔5⭐️

I thought the beginning wasn‘t as engaging as i wanted it to be, but it evolves like crazy into this super beautiful and heartbreaking story. Really sad. Points out so many structural problems with how violence against women is viewed and handled in our culture. Overall recommend.
Hearing the author speak shortly.....

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ This is a beautifully written memoir about her childhood and her mother. I listened to the audiobook, narrated by the author. She did such a good job of building the story so there was context, and changed to second person so she could cope with writing it. It‘s a heartbreaking memoir but I do recommend it.

It has taken me so long to finish this memoir. So much trauma and emotional abuse the author has suffered that I could only read it in small doses. Her mother was murdered by her stepfather and she writes of memories no child should have. I felt that the transcripts of phone conversations between her mother and stepfather were torturous to read, I can‘t imagine the fear. 2/5💔s

A dreamy, poetic recounting of Tretheway‘s memories of her mother and her mother‘s murder. She addresses the nature of memory and the willful forgetting of details too painful to remember but the patchy and incomplete way this was written failed to land for me. Full review at https://booknaround.blogspot.com/2021/06/review-memorial-drive-by-natasha.html

What a powerful memoir. The courage to write about your own mother's murder. #bookspinbingo square on #audio

New #audio book and cool flowers I saw on my walk.

This is an excellent memoir of grief and abuse. Trethewey‘s prose is beautiful as she describes her mother‘s marriage to an abusive man who murders her. The author grounds her experiences within the social, political, and historical context of the time. Her descriptions of her fear and grief are heartbreaking. Her strength and perseverance are encouraging. I read it in one day.

What an emotional and harrowing memoir about the loss of a mother tragically to murder. It left me with many questions and so many emotions. Such a hard read but a good one. Read for my July #doublespin choice.

@TheAromaofBooks

#ThinkPositiveBePositive thx for tag @Alwaysbeenaloverofbooks
"Never forget that walking away from something unhealthy is brave even if you stumble a little on your way out the door " source unknown
The authors mother was brave and the author was brave to share such an intimate and honest examination of her mothers death and her feelings about it. The story is beautifully written and the audio (author narrates) is very good.

Posting some July goals -
#BFC21 - stated above ( @wanderinglynn )
#ThatsClassic - @Annie1215 looking forward to Mrs. Dalloway
#ThornBirdsReadalong @TheSpineView -
#LosersClub #LosersClub2021 - Hearts in Atlantis
#Booked2021 - reading for prompt #9 A Sudden Death ( @cinfhen @4thhouseontheleft @BarbaraTheBibliophage )
#potteraday @linsy - still reading Harry Potter and 1/2 Blood Prince (once again, plan to be on same page as group for July)
😊

Looking forward to reading the Tagged Book.
#LLSS #LitsyLoveSummerSwap

“ Do you know what it means to have a wound that never heals?”
#literati #June2021 #CherylStrayed

5 hours and 100 pages to go before book club tonight!

Chilling. A powerful, fast paced memoir.

While this is definitely a sad read, especially when Trethewey writes about how much of her time with her mother she has lost to forgetting, overall it made me angry. Lots of books have been making me angry recently - notably this and Tess. We need to do better for women, we just do. I think there are more resources now but I‘m sick of hearing about women being killed by obsessive men. Learn how to take rejection. #bookspin for April

Of course, we‘re made up of what we‘ve forgotten too, what we‘ve tried to bury or suppress.

Wow, just about 20% in and already I‘m blown away by the beauty of the language and have requested one of Trethewey‘s poetry collections from the library.

Finally starting my April #bookspin, on the last day of the month. I haven‘t been ready for it (still don‘t think I‘m ready). Kicking off the #20in4 with this one. I hope to start May with a strong weekend, but my weekend reading is usually impacted by family time. No definite goals other than read whenever possible.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ At nineteen, Trethewey tragically lost her mom to domestic gun violence. This brief, beautifully rendered memoir is a tribute to her mother - a woman who faced much adversity in her short life. I know it‘s “A Daughter‘s Memoir,” but I wish there weren‘t so many gaps in the narrative. I selfishly want more of the story, more of the rest of the family. Still, I truly appreciate Trethewey sharing the pieces lovingly represented here.

When she‘s 19, Trethewey‘s mother is murdered by her ex husband. This is a look back at her early life and everything that lead up to that point. It‘s a beautifully written tribute to her mom, though definitely not easy to read at times.

The author read this beautifully told story for the audiobook.

What a heart-breaker it was to listen to Trethewey recount the facts surrounding her mother's death at the hand of her stepfather.

She told her difficult story with such poetic language that, despite the subject matter, it was beautiful to listen to.

This is a beautiful tribute from a grieving daughter for her murdered mother, at the hands of Natasha‘s stepfather. It‘s a story all too familiar where once again society & law enforcement fails women. Natasha‘s mom was a trial blazer, dealing with racism, sexism, and single parenting. Its obvious that Natasha is a poet as her words are vivid and lyrical. Her own reading on audio was extra haunting. Slim in length but impactful.

Next up: IRL bookclub 💖

Great read: poetic, horrific, enlightening. Trethewey writes in a concise way that hits really hard. Every sentence is carefully crafted - you have no choice but to get swept along.

Trethewey‘s mother was murdered by her stepfather when she was 19. In this book, thirty years after her mother's death, Tretheway finally scours her past, putting together the history of those early years that she had tried so hard to forget. She wrestles with memories, new facts about her mother's death, and the ways her life and career have been forever shaped by this horrific loss.

When U.S. poet laureate Natasha Trethewey was 19 years old, her stepfather shot and killed her mother. Her memoir is part requiem for her mother and part reckoning with the forces that forged Trethewey as a writer and a poet. In making meaning from the wreckage of the past, Trethewey doesn‘t polish each shard, but leaves the patina on, so you can see where each piece comes from, how it survived. What she builds from it all is someplace sacred.

Started this one after breakfast and finished by lunch. Amazing read. Impossible to put down. You might need Kleenex but you won‘t regret reading this stark, but luminous gem.

And this is why I don‘t read sad, memoir NF, because I now can‘t get Natasha out of my head. 💔
As a piece of writing, it‘s sparse and precise, but cuts deep. Her reflection and applied hindsight are painful. Her many echoes of what if? Her guilt in living.
There are many questions and things I would like to say to Natasha but as I can‘t, I‘ve brought some of her poetry instead. I would like to revisit her creative force.

In Memorial Drive, Trethewey documents a portrait of her mother, herself, and how her mother‘s death was at once about loss of life, love, violence, race relations, and what it means to live at those intersections. And then I went online to listen to Natasha Trethewey Read her poem, “Letter to Inmate #271847​"
Poetry is powerful and so is this memoir.

My goodness, this book is a stunning achievement. When a poet tackles prose, the result is often spare, precise and perfect and that is what you‘ll find here. Without an extra word or off note, this memoir is filled with a clear-eyed poise that will live with me for some time. 2nd book for #24in48Readathon and what a revelation! #BookspinBingo @TheAromaofBooks #integrateyourshelf #ownvoices

Just finished my second read for Black History Month. Trethewey‘s voice is strong as she writes about the love and support of her mother. As a child being raised by a black mother and a largely absent white father, the author takes the reader down patches that are jarring and uncomfortable while highlighting the strength of her mother. Thought this was an exceptional book. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

My January Wrap Up.

My favorites of the month were Memorial Drive, Across the Green Grass Fields, Cassidy Holmes, and Girl, Woman, Other, but most were quite good!

I DNF‘d The Bloody Chamber and How Long ‘Til Black Future Month. Short stories just don‘t work for me a lot of the time.

Cats on Catnip, Pattern Behavior, and Troubled Birds are just humor, mostly pictures.

Looking forward to another great month of reading!📚📚📚

13-17 Jan 2021 (audiobook)
This memoir is poetic, despite its heartbreaking exploration of domestic violence. I had many questions - about the author‘s mother, her relationships and the way the escalating threats were handled. The scant details are understandable given the author‘s youth at the time of the murder.
I found the author reading the transcript of her mother‘s last phone call with the man who was to kill her difficult to listen to.

This is a haunting and heartbreaking memoir about Natasha‘s mother‘s terrifying relationship with her abusive, obsessive, and eventually murderous husband. It‘s beautifully written, incredibly sad, and definitely not for the faint hearted. I‘m glad I listened, but I feel a little broken now. 🥺

This slim memoir is powerful and heartbreaking. Trethewey writes of the grief she experienced following her mother‘s murder at the hands of her step-father. Trethewey also recounts her experience of growing up in the south during the 1960s/1970s with a black mother and white father. The author is a poet and that shines through in her writing. Trigger warnings for domestic violence.

What an impactful memoir and personal investigation of the tragic loss of the author‘s mother to domestic violence when she was only 19. It was when their relationship was growing stronger with her stepfather gone. Best book I‘ve read on abuse partly because we came to it from the daughter‘s sometimes fuzzy perspective but we hear her mom‘s voice and completely understand this devastating loss and frustration. So beautifully written!

Truly devastating.

Ordered a pizza for dinner, which gives me more couch time with this excellent memoir.

Today‘s #bookmail
Had a book token that needed spending 😁

#FirstLitsyPost
#MyYearInBooks
#2020

I heard Trethewey give a reading from Memorial Drive while she was working on it a few years ago and it was one of the most moving things I've ever heard.

Took advantage of Audible sale. Not sure I'm done 🤔

Natasha Trethewey is an American poet who was appointed United States Poet Laureate in 2012 and again in 2013. She won the 2007 Pulitzer Prize in Poetry for her 2006 collection Native Guard, and she is a former Poet Laureate of Mississippi.

#clean #poetrymatters @TheSpineView

Even those this is a memoir written in prose, it's obvious by her writing style that Trethewey is a poet by nature. Memorial Drive is a short account of the narrator's journey coming to terms with her mother's murder.

Have heard nothing but raves for this. #KindleDailyDeals