It’s so hard reading memoirs where someone is going through something so challenging and so painful because all I want to do is step in and do something. Or I say, “Don’t do that! Do this!” As if “this” is easy. As if “this” is obvious. As if “this” is even something I would or could do myself. It’s a painful reminder that we don’t always or often see the big picture when we’re in the middle of it. That we could go through this exact same painful experience and get the exact same painful result. That maybe we’re not as smart, as brave, as strong as we’d like to think. What makes a memoir memorable are the ones ones that plumb the depths of human emotion and endurance, that wring you out, that make you have to get up and walk around before going back to the material. I think people write memoirs to remind the authors themselves and the readers of their shared humanity. The author is exposing their soul, and they’re asking their readers to help them take care of it. This is just such a memoir.