Book Club read, was nervous going in sounded like another depressing read.
This is a memoir about growing up poor and undaunted in the South. Barbara Robinette Moss chronicles her family's chaotic, impoverished survival in the red-clay hills of Alabama. A wild-eyed, alcoholic father and a humble, heroic mother along with a shanty full of rambunctious brothers and sisters fill her life to the brim with stories that are gripping, tender, and funny.
Moss's early fascination with art coincides with her desire to transform her "twisted mummy face," which grew askew due to malnutrition and lack of medical care. Gazing at the stars on a clear Alabama night, she wishes to be the "goddess of beauty, much-loved daughter of Zeus."
I had a hard time with this time flow in this book, it seemed really slow at first, then we suddenly had skipped high school and she was a single mom. WTF? Then the fixing of her face was in the epilogue, not in the story itself? It happened during the fast forward part, it was confusing. I'm not sure what the point was, I mean there was no conclusion, she just stopped writing. I had a ton of unanswered questions when I was done reading. Did she confront her Mom about why did she stay with her Dad? Did she ever find or confront her parents about Mary Louise? Why was Janet so sheltered?
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