melissagopp's reviews
237 reviews

What a unique, poetic, and powerful read! Readers who’ve lived through a marriage with a secret or a body with a complication will especially appreciate this memoir. In relaying the story of her childhood in post-communist Albania and her dysfunctional marriage to a man from India, Gjika paints a larger picture of making peace with and coming home to her body. I identified with so much of her lyric prose. I could feel the heady romance embedded in her long-distance relationship and in the time she spends getting acquainted with her own desires after divorce. Her reflections on the differences between being watched versus being seen as a woman resonated deeply.

Themes of travel, nature, and sexual identity drew me to this memoir by Jedidiah Jenkins. Especially intriguing was the book’s central question: Do we have to cut our loved ones off when they disagree with something utterly foundational to our values and existence? 

Jenkins was raised by an evangelical Christian mom who walked across America with his father and went on to write a bestselling series about the adventure. In Mother, Nature, mother and son set off on a road trip, retracing her steps and reminiscing about the past. As a gay man, Jenkins hopes that in addition to bonding with his mom, he’ll find out whether or not she would attend his wedding to a man, if and when that day comes. 

 

Despite her backwards beliefs about sexuality, Jenkins’ mom comes alive on the page and is quite likable. I found myself alternately judging her as ignorant, then innocent, stubborn, and even sage in her simplicity. Still, it’s hard to overlook her unwillingness to budge on a matter so fundamental to her son’s identity. I would have thought, as Jenkins hopes, that her “concept of ‘homosexuality’ would be crushed by the specificity of a human she cares about.” 

I admire Jenkins’ bravery in confronting his mom and staying in relationship through the awkwardness of her answer to his big question. His ability to hold multiple truths at once is something most of us could stand to do more often in this time of exaggerated binaries and divisiveness. As a whole, this memoir is a great reminder that there is no one or right way to come out and be out. Each person’s journey is incredibly personal and continuously evolving. 

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the opportunity to read in exchange for an honest review.

Reading books by nature writers is always such a refreshing palate cleanser from the fast pace of current events and social media. I thoroughly enjoyed Renkl’s collection of observations and reflections on the wildlife on her residential plot of land. Some of my favorite takeaways: the value of an untidy garden, the antidepressant properties of freshly turned soil, and the tragedy of life imperiled by green lawns for fashion’s sake. As Renkl notes, we can’t single-handedly change America or solve climate change, but we can plant a garden. Renkl has been the custodian of her yard for decades, where she has provided a habitat for wildlife, raised her kids, and loved her spouse. The wisdom she’s gained in the process is brimming with meaning and value. Thank you to NetGalley and the the publisher for the opportunity to read in exchange for an honest review.

While this memoir has been compared to Carmen Maria Machado’s In the Dream House, I found The Night Parade to be a one-of-a-kind read. In it, Jami Nakamura Lin uses Japanese mythology to explore her experience of bipolar disorder, parenthood, partnership, and her father’s death from cancer. Lin describes her memoir as a book-length essay—a form especially suited for uncertainty and wondering. She employs an impressive repertoire of various points of view, including storytelling, third person past, second person present (as if addressing the reader directly), narrating herself as heroine, and monologuing to her daughter. I especially enjoyed how she invokes the imagery of a parade of spirits as she progresses through labor overnight. Lin is a deep thinker. I so relished her reflections and questions throughout. Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the opportunity to read in exchange for an honest review.