Long Live the Tribe of Fatherless Girls; T. Kira Madden

TITLE: Long Live the Tribe of Fatherless Girls (memoir)

AUTHOR:  T. Kira Madden

PUBLISHER:  Bloomsbury

PUB. YEAR: 2019

SETTING: FL
FORMAT:  - print/library

RATING - 5/5

I've always enjoyed a good memoir, especially one that delves deep into a dysfunctional childhood. Brutally honest, gritty, sometimes sad, sometimes funny, I loved everything about this woman's journey to self-discovery.

As her story begins we meet "Uncle Nuke" (a mannequin) -- 

Uncle Nuke

"My mother rescued a mannequin from the J.C. Penney dump when I was two years old.  He was a full-bodied jewelry mannequin: fancy, distinguished.  

Madden grew up in Boca Raton, FL to a single mother who was Chinese and Hawaiian.  Initially they lived alone and not the best neighborhood.  For safety, her mother rescues "Uncle Nuke" from the dump.  She dresses him up and props him near a window so it looks like a man lives with them.

Her father was white, wealthy and married; he eventually leaves his family to marry her mother and lives with his new family.   Although money was never an issue for Madden growing up: she went to private schools and had plenty of material possessions, she struggled to fit in. She felt different than her peers as a biracial girl in Boca Raton and she was dealing with her sexuality as well.  She also lacked stability and security in her life, both of her parents battled alcohol and drug addictions. 

Her story is so beautifully written, Madden is tough, strong and forgiving. The memoir is told in a series of very short essays, each one drawing the reader deeper and deeper into her life journey.  Some of her memories were beautiful and funny, others painful. There was so much in this memoir that stuck with me - This memoir did not disappoint; I really loved it.

Note:  Madden was a victim of sexual assault at the age of 12, so readers for who this might be a trigger need to know this beforehand.

First Chapter First Paragraph Tuesday Intros - Long Live the Tribe of Fatherless Girls; T. Kira Madden

Each Tuesday, Vicki, from I’d Rather Be At The Beach hosts First Chapter First Paragraph Tuesday Intros where  readers post the opening paragraph (sometime two) of a book they are reading or that they plan to read. 

Long Live the Tribe of Fatherless Girls: a memoir; T. Kira Madden

Bloomsbury Publishing - 2019

PART 1 - The Feels of Love

Uncle Nuke

"My mother rescued a mannequin from the J.C. Penney dump when I was two years old.  He was a full-bodied jewelry mannequin: fancy, distinguished.  Those were the the words she used.  Her father, my grandfather, worked the counter day and night, slinked antique chains and strands of jade across velvet placemats, and felt the mannequin did no work for his numbers; he's pau--done.  Grandfather said this with both elbows bent, a chopping motion.  The mannequin would have to go."

I love a good memoir and this one is getting excellent reviews - what do you think? Would you read more?

Hot Milk; Deborah Levy

Hot Milk; Deborah Levy

Bloomsbury - 2016

Hot Milk was an interesting novel and character study. It's a story that examines the co-dependent, mother/daughter relationship.

As the story opens twenty-five year old Sofia has abandoned pursuing her Phd in Anthropology and her coffee house job to travel to Amelia Spain with her mother Rose in the hopes that the Gomez Clinic there may be able to help her ailing mother.  Rose is an unlikable woman with an array of aches, pains and other ailments, her latest being numbness in her feet making it difficult to walk.  Rose is on a variety of meds, which she may or may not need.  

Sofia's father abandoned her and her mother years earlier and, Sofia hasn't seen he father who lives in Greece since she was eleven.  He now has a new younger wife and baby.

Are Roses ailments real or just a way to guilt her daughter into staying close by her side?

While Rose seeks treatment with the cat loving, Dr. Gomez, Sofia occupies her time with two different romantic relationships and a trip to see her self-entered, father and his new family.

Sofia is a passionate and entertaining narrator. While others see her dark features as alluring and sensual, she sees herself as monster-like.  I found the plot simple but, the writing intelligent and story memorable. There are several funny scenes throughout including one where Gomez tests Rose to determine whether her numbness in her feet is real or imagined, I loved it. There's almost a dreamlike quality to the writing that hooked me early on. The story examines: dependent relationships, abandonment issues and takes a look at quack-like doctors, hypochondria and big-Pharma.  A surprising treat for me and a relatively short novel as well.  I can see why this one made the Man Booker list.

4.5/5 stars

(library)

First Chapter First Paragraph Tuesday Intros - Hot Milk; Deborah Levy

Every Tuesday I host First Chapter First Paragraph Tuesday Intros where I share the first paragraph sometimes two, of a book that I'm reading or plan to read soon.

Hot Milk; Deborah Levy

Bloomsbury - 2016

2015. Algeria. Southern Spain. August.

"Today I dropped my laptop on the concrete floor of a bar built on the beach.  It was tucked under my arm and slid out of its black rubber sheath (designed like and envelope), landing screen side down.  The digital page is now shattered but at least it still works.  My laptop has all my life in it and knows more about me than anyone else.

So what I'm saying is that if its broken, so am I."

What do you think -- keep reading or pass? 
(Feel free to join in this week by posting your intro below?

Coming Soon to a Book Store Near You - Weathering; Lucy Wood

I came across this book which sounds kind of different.  I hope to read it in 2016.

Weathering; Lucy Woods

Bloomsbury - 2016

(AMAZON DESCRIPTION)

Pearl doesn't know how she's ended up in the river--the same messy, cacophonous river in the same rain-soaked valley she'd been stuck in for years. But here her spirit swirls and stays . . . Ada, Pearl's daughter, doesn't know how she's ended up back in the house she left thirteen years ago--with no heating apart from a fire she can't light, no way of getting around apart from an old car she's scared to drive, and no company apart from her own young daughter, Pepper. She wants to clear out Pearl's house so she can leave and not look back. Pepper has grown used to following her restless mother from place to place, but this house, with its faded photographs, its boxes of cameras and its stuffed jackdaw, is something new. Fascinated by the scattering of people she meets, by the river that unfurls through the valley, and by the strange old woman who sits on the bank with her feet in the cold, coppery water, Pepper doesn't know why anyone would ever want to leave.

As the first frosts of autumn herald the coming of a long winter and Pepper and Ada find themselves entangled with the life of the valley, with new companions who won't be closed out, each will discover the ways that places can take root inside us, bind us together, and become us.

Big Ray; Michael Kimball

Big Ray; Michael Kimball

Bloomsbury - 2013

I have to admit, it was the title and cover with the oversized sunken chair that first attracted me to this book. I hadn't read any reviews prior to beginning this short novel (fewer than 200 pages), and had no idea what to expect.

The story is told through a series of short entries, by Daniel Todd Carrier, the 38 year-old son of Big Ray, now deceased. Big Ray and Daniel's mother were divorced years earlier, and Big Ray, who toppled the scale at 550 lbs, died alone in his small apartment.  His body was found by his landlord who went to collect the rent at the beginning of the month.

From each entry it is easy to see that Daniel is struggling over his father's death and the fact that he died alone.  Each entry adds a piece to the puzzle about the man Big Ray was.  A crude and difficult husband and father, Big Ray grew up poor and as an adult took his anger out on his family and others.  Bitter and angry, he basically ate himself to death as a result of health complications from his morbid obesity.  

The entries also shed light on the kind of man Daniel was: sensitive and kind in contrast to his bigger in life "bully" of a father, the man that Daniel was, deep down, embarrassed to call "dad".  All his life he longed for his father to show some sign of love, but that just never happened.  Some of the entries are disturbing, very sad and difficult to read.  Although this was a work of fiction, it felt more like a memoir, and a theraputic effort written by someone trying to move beyond grief.

3.5/5 stars

(personal copy)

First Chapter First Paragraph Tuesday Intros - Big Ray; Michael Kimball

Every Tuesday I host First Chapter First Paragraph Tuesday Intros, where I share the first paragraph or (a few) of a book I am reading or thinking about reading soon.

Big Ray; Michael Kimball

Bloomsbury - 2012

1

"My father probably died on January 28, 2005, but I wouldn't know he was dead until a few days later when my sister called to tell me.  My father lived alone and nobody else knew he was already dead either.

**

January 29, 2005, would have been my mother and father's forty-fifth wedding anniversary--if my father hadn't died the day before, if my mother hadn't divorced him ten years before that."

What do you think? Keep Reading?
(feel free to join in and post your link below)