Living Through It

February 12th, 2012
Marilyn · Staff Recommendations

A good memoir stays with me as the memory of a good friend. The hours spent involved in the reading of the memories of someone’s life creates a feeling of intimacy that fiction does not. A real person is sharing his or her life, and the reader shares his or her joys and pains. A good memoir makes me wish I knew the author, and usually makes me feel deep down I do.

The memoirs I enjoy most have regular people recalling extraordinary trauma in their lives. These people are faced with seemingly insurmountable life situations and emotional pain, but they live through their horrors, and they write about them. They tell their stories with dignity and grace and even humor. They are people I would like to go through life with; and through their memoirs, in a sense I do. I get to witness people find their way through all kinds of problems I hope never to have.

Below are a few of my favorite memoirs.