A piano teacher accused of the unthinkable. And what if you were one of his students who it happened to but you kept silent?

Amy Jo Burns covers just that plus growing up a girl in a dead mining town. We go chronologically through her life but the stuff with the piano teacher gets tossed in here and there. It makes sense if you understand how people hide their traumas and how these girls lied not just because of what happened to them but how the town affected their lives and how they lived in that town.

It was interesting but you don’t quite understand what the piano teacher, Mr. Lotte did except through small dribs and stand, a mention here. An off hand remark there. That was my biggest issue.

A recommend, with reservations ( )

Fear and loathing in a small town? Amy Jo was molested by the highly popular piano teacher in her small, but declining Pennsylvania town. Unlike several other girls she declined to tell the truth about the actions of her teacher. The town became almost a war zone in it's defense/hatred of said teacher and the girls who were brave enough to tell of his actions were not well treated by their neighbors. It was a different time then - at least I'd like to think so.

Amy Jo chronicles what seems to be a singularly exceptional life but she lives with the knowledge of the abuse and her failure to support her friends. Strong subjects indeed but that failed to fully materialize in this slim memoir. While this is a tale worth telling I'm not sure that all the author wanted to convey came through to me. ( )

Amy Jo grew up in the sleepy town of Mercury, Pennsylvania, which flourished when steel was king but was now a shadow of itself. With mills shuttered, the close-knit town’s many traditions kept it going while its young people secretly dreamed of ways to get out of town. This is the story of a small town that survived the mill closures, yet allowed its own soul to die by not supporting a group of young girls who were sexually abused by one of its own.

Through flashbacks, Amy Jo tells her story of sexual abuse along with the history of Mercury and its people. I wasn’t a fan of her wandering narrative, and found myself wanting to put the book down instead of reading it because it wasn’t holding my interest. I managed to finish, but only did so because I had to write a review for it.

Perhaps other readers will be interested in reading Amy Jo’s story, which is why I will leave it up to you to decide if you want to read it or not.

Book review link: https://wordpress.com/post/shouldireaditornot.wordpress.com/4361 ( )

This memoir is set in a small Western Pennsylvania town that has been decimated by the collapse of the steel industry. Since I was born, raised and make my home in Pittsburgh, PA, that was the first point of interest for me to read this book. Burns handles the time and place beautifully. It really captures what it is like to live in one of those towns that unlike Pittsburgh has never recovered from the demise of its primary purpose.

In this small town, everyone struggles to retain their pride even as they lose the battle to remain economically stable. When a group of girls accuse a local piano teacher of molestation, the whole town responds. Most of the response is negative and, for the most part, the girls are disbelieved while the teacher is supported.

Amy Jo was one of those girls. Except she wasn't because when she was asked if the teacher had assaulted her, she lied and said he hadn't. This memoir details what it is like to have lived with that lie. I'd like this book no matter what, but I've never seen or read anything with this precise story of sexual abuse and its horrific ramifications. She is honest in a way that is emotionally resonant and she writes beautifully.

Highly recommended and a must read if live in the post-steel Rust Belt interests you. ( )

I, too, was a girl raised in a small town in Pennsylvania, so this story was particularly relevant and appealing to me. The writing was exceptional, but I wasn't captivated by the content. I may have been in a wrong-time-for-the-right-book kind of mood - because as I said, the writing was really top notch. Since I now have this one on my shelf, I'd be willing to give it another try in the future. ( )