Jane Lazarre

I think the Achilles heal of this story was the back and forth between the author's present and her father's past.

I feel like it was shooting for the type of flashbacks found in films Forrest Gump or A League of Their Own, but it just didn't work well. There were so many shifts that at times it was hard to keep track of whether it was past or present. At times, it felt like rambling rather than coherent thoughts or recollections.

The concept is great, though, and kept me reading. Just like with Patient H.M., I continued reading because I want to know the end result, but I found myself daydreaming and getting distracted, especially during the history lesson portions.

I had to know more about Lazarre and her father, though. He fought for worker's rights and racial equality; issues that are still at the forefront of politics today. It was really interesting reading her father's words through official court records.

Lazarre's overall story was interesting and engaging. I'm glad I managed to get my hands on a copy. I enjoyed watching her remember her childhood and put together the pieces of events as an adult. Through her memories and the official records, she began to view her father in a new light. I think this book served as a learning experience not only for her readers, but also for herself. The story kept me reading.… (mehr)

This is one of several "uncorrected page proofs" I received as an intern at Duke University Press in the late 90's. I'm looking to give them away to friends now, so I'm trying to (finally) read at least a bit of each of them.

Many times, I found this memoir too personal for me. I felt surprised and uncomfortable by just how much Lazarre was revealing about her inner thoughts, her dreams, her therapy sessions. It felt too personal but I wanted to read more, which left me feeling voyeuristic.

I appreciate the conscious non-linear construction of the memoir. Here is an author who has studied and taught memoir and is very much aware of the devices and the impact of the structure she's using. I like that there is discussion within the narrative about the structure of the narrative itself.

Sometimes this book is as inaccessible as my own thoughts/memories/motivations. Other times it breaks through with such a poignance that it takes my breath away. In the end, the pain---both physical and emotional---of Lazarre's cancer diagnosis and treatment process opens a path towards a relationship with her mother who has been dead for nearly half a century. Towards the end, Lazarre transmutes her feelings for her sons as infants into the feelings that she imagines her mother must have had for her, the awe of this being of her own creation. I had never thought about this as a door that mothering could open up. At times I've pondered how much easier it might have been had I just been hatched rather than birthed, but the mammalian mother's attachment to her offspring really is something unique and precious. Lazarre reminds me of this.… (mehr)