I just finished this awesome memoir by Lilly Dancyger. In it she tells the story of how she works through her grief over her father’s passing during her childhood, through investigating his life through his art. Through it, she grieves, mourns, heals, and learns to love her father in a new way.
I don’t read a great deal of science fiction; however, at a recent conference I attended, this book was mentioned and the speaker said whenever he visits a bookstore, he moves this book from Science Fiction to Current Events. Kim Stanley Robinson’s look at the very real and imminent natural consequences of climate change is really excellent. He weaves a strong storyline with characters you care about, with a heavy dose of climate science, leaving the reader with the very real question of what, exactly, are we as a world community going to do about this situation. And for god’s sake – when?
I recently finished this gorgeous memoir. Dowd does a masterful job of telling the story of a childhood where the most important thing taught by her parents was how to survive – and often the lesson was learned by surviving her parents and the cult her parents raised her in. Dowd’s childhood and her eventual escape from it is rooted in a deep understanding and appreciation of the natural world around her. I’m looking forward to using this memoir in my upcoming workshop, Writing the Natural World, which will be offered this fall through Oregon Literary Arts.
