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Pigs Can't Swim: A Memoir
Finalist for the 2014 New England Book Awards in Non-Fiction
An outrageous, hilarious, and touching memoir by the youngest of nine children in a hardscrabble, beyond-eccentric Maine family.
With everything happening on Helen Peppe’s backwoods Maine farm, life was wild--and not just for the animals. Sibling rivalry, rock-bottom poverty, feral male chauvinism, sex in the hayloft: everything seemed--and was--out of control. In telling her wayward family tale, Peppe manages deadpan humor, an unerring eye for the absurd, and poignant compassion for her utterly overwhelmed parents. While her feisty resilience and candor will inevitably remind readers of Jeannette Walls or Mary Karr, Peppe's wry insight and moments of tenderness with family and animals are entirely her own. As Richard Hoffman, the author of Half the House: A Memoir puts it: "Pigs Can't Swim is an unruly, joyous troublemaker of a book."
An outrageous, hilarious, and touching memoir by the youngest of nine children in a hardscrabble, beyond-eccentric Maine family.
With everything happening on Helen Peppe’s backwoods Maine farm, life was wild--and not just for the animals. Sibling rivalry, rock-bottom poverty, feral male chauvinism, sex in the hayloft: everything seemed--and was--out of control. In telling her wayward family tale, Peppe manages deadpan humor, an unerring eye for the absurd, and poignant compassion for her utterly overwhelmed parents. While her feisty resilience and candor will inevitably remind readers of Jeannette Walls or Mary Karr, Peppe's wry insight and moments of tenderness with family and animals are entirely her own. As Richard Hoffman, the author of Half the House: A Memoir puts it: "Pigs Can't Swim is an unruly, joyous troublemaker of a book."
272 pages, Hardcover
First published February 4, 2014
About the author
Helen Peppe
4 books33 followersHelen Peppe is a writer and animal photographer who lives in Maine with her family. The former editor of Eastern Equerry and Wordplay Magazine, her short stories, articles, and photographs have appeared in anthologies, books, and magazines. She is the author of the limited edition Live on Stage: A History of the State Theater and creator of the Maine Stable Guide. Helen’s photography and written work have received numerous awards and recognition, including placing first in a Word Worth Essay and Fiction Contest, and The Starving Writer Literary contest twice. She was one of seven finalists for the 2011 Annie Dillard Creative Nonfiction Award, and a repeat finalist for the Maine Literary Awards. She earned an M.F.A. in creative writing from the Stonecoast Low-Residency MFA program at the University of Southern Maine where she returns to teach and photograph. PIGS is a Spring 2014 Indies Introduce Title.
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January 8, 2018
Pigs Can't Swim is a collection of essays based on Helen Peppe's childhood memories. Frankly, it is amazing that she managed to live to adulthood.
The youngest of nine children, she was by turns ignored or over-directed. Her family lived on a farm in Maine on a dead end road in the middle of nowhere.
Helen tells her tale, all of it, without flinching from what she perceives the truth to be: her family's wild behavior, prejudices, poverty, dysfunction, and an episode with a child predator that was truly horrific.
I had to keep reminding myself that she made it out alive and, at least, managed to write a book because this memoir had some truly terrifying bits in it.
I think Pigs Can't Swim is an amazing piece of non-fiction writing not only for its content but also for its execution.
Helen's parents weren't perfect but she doesn't seem to blame or justify their behavior. In Pigs Can't Swim, she just tells what happened and leaves a majority of the interpretation in the hands of the reader.
I couldn't put this book down.
Its flowing narration reminded me of a much grittier version of Life Among the Savages.
Its personal and tell-all style reminded me of She Got Up Off the Couch: And Other Heroic Acts from Mooreland, Indiana. Similar to She Got Up Off the Couch, this book talks about overcoming poverty and adversity to become something more.
If you enjoyed either of these books, you'll probably love Pigs Can't Swim.
I received a free copy of this book through Goodreads First Reads program. Thanks for reading!
The youngest of nine children, she was by turns ignored or over-directed. Her family lived on a farm in Maine on a dead end road in the middle of nowhere.
Helen tells her tale, all of it, without flinching from what she perceives the truth to be: her family's wild behavior, prejudices, poverty, dysfunction, and an episode with a child predator that was truly horrific.
I had to keep reminding myself that she made it out alive and, at least, managed to write a book because this memoir had some truly terrifying bits in it.
I think Pigs Can't Swim is an amazing piece of non-fiction writing not only for its content but also for its execution.
Helen's parents weren't perfect but she doesn't seem to blame or justify their behavior. In Pigs Can't Swim, she just tells what happened and leaves a majority of the interpretation in the hands of the reader.
I couldn't put this book down.
Its flowing narration reminded me of a much grittier version of Life Among the Savages.
Its personal and tell-all style reminded me of She Got Up Off the Couch: And Other Heroic Acts from Mooreland, Indiana. Similar to She Got Up Off the Couch, this book talks about overcoming poverty and adversity to become something more.
If you enjoyed either of these books, you'll probably love Pigs Can't Swim.
I received a free copy of this book through Goodreads First Reads program. Thanks for reading!
February 8, 2017
This memoir of hardscrabble youth will resonate with fans of Jeannette Walls’s The Glass Castle and
Tiger, Tiger
by Margaux Fragoso. “Nine children, one daughter’s husband, and two grandkids stuffed in a five-bedroom house with overworked parents who lacked expendable cash, time, and energy meant that unless I made myself a pest, I was invisible too.”
Peppe grew up the youngest of nine children among the rednecks and hicks of rural Maine (case in point: “My father had several siblings too, but they had a dark history and no teeth”). Her family kept a whole menagerie of animals, some as pets but most as meat. Early on Peppe grew uncomfortable with the contradiction between cherishing some animals and eating others. She saw chickens with their heads cut off, kittens drowned in a sack, and a dog run over on the road; she heard her mother cry over her beloved pet cows, “I don’t love the ones I eat!” Soon she went a step further, declaring she would never eat any animal again.
The animal rights message occasionally gets a bit heavyhanded (even though I’m sympathetic, and it’s interesting to see what inspired Peppe to become a animal photographer); the more compelling story is her miserable childhood. Her father was a proud USPS employee for 25 years – but as a janitor, she was later ashamed to learn. Even so, the family clung to scraps of dignity: “‘It’s one thing not to have money,’ my mother would say in judgment...‘It’s another to be dirty.’” Peppe gradually learned that she was in that pariah class of the poor and trashy; “the neighborhood considered us the tramps and riffraff.”
There was only one house key between 12 people; Peppe once had to break a cellar window when she got home early from kindergarten and was desperate for the bathroom. As the youngest, she was stationed as lookout whenever their parents were away. When she spotted headlights coming down the driveway, the others would have one minute to dump any cigarettes, beer, and half-dressed boys out the back windows – their mother had the skills of a private investigator when it came to finding evidence of her children’s misbehavior. One night Peppe failed to give adequate warning because she was completely lost in a book. Stephen King and James Herriot were her two (rather diametrically opposed) bookish indulgences. “If not for books and animals, I’d die from boredom,” she thought.
This book is about the things that save us, both large and small. If “the special power of darkness is that it makes you believe there was never any light at all,” pets and beloved books were the pinpricks of light that defied the darkness. Yet the greatest source of light for her was love. Helen followed in the footsteps of several of her sisters by becoming pregnant during her teen years. She’d struck up an intense relationship with Eric, a pastor’s son, at age 15 and was pregnant a year later. (Guess what, though? Eric’s last name was Peppe, so this story has a happy ending: she stayed with her high school sweetheart and they now have two children.)
Her childhood wasn’t all sad, of course. A barn fire, a swimming piglet, a local ghost and an exploding pressure cooker made for plenty of fun antics. Peppe’s anecdotes are charmingly written as well as vividly remembered; I particularly like this metaphor she gives for their immediacy in her mind: “The memories of that night lived close to the surface, ready to be clicked through, one after another, as if on View-Master paper disks.”
If I have one quibble, it’s that Peppe has made the curious decision to give her siblings descriptors rather than names in this memoir. So, for example, readers meet her “blustery-and-favored brother,” her “sister-who-holds-grudges-longer-than-God,” and the “sister-of-poor-choices” who eloped to Delaware at age 17. I suppose eight sibling names are a lot to keep track of, but I found the habit more irksome than quaint.
I was delighted to win a copy in a Goodreads First Reads giveaway.
Peppe grew up the youngest of nine children among the rednecks and hicks of rural Maine (case in point: “My father had several siblings too, but they had a dark history and no teeth”). Her family kept a whole menagerie of animals, some as pets but most as meat. Early on Peppe grew uncomfortable with the contradiction between cherishing some animals and eating others. She saw chickens with their heads cut off, kittens drowned in a sack, and a dog run over on the road; she heard her mother cry over her beloved pet cows, “I don’t love the ones I eat!” Soon she went a step further, declaring she would never eat any animal again.
The animal rights message occasionally gets a bit heavyhanded (even though I’m sympathetic, and it’s interesting to see what inspired Peppe to become a animal photographer); the more compelling story is her miserable childhood. Her father was a proud USPS employee for 25 years – but as a janitor, she was later ashamed to learn. Even so, the family clung to scraps of dignity: “‘It’s one thing not to have money,’ my mother would say in judgment...‘It’s another to be dirty.’” Peppe gradually learned that she was in that pariah class of the poor and trashy; “the neighborhood considered us the tramps and riffraff.”
There was only one house key between 12 people; Peppe once had to break a cellar window when she got home early from kindergarten and was desperate for the bathroom. As the youngest, she was stationed as lookout whenever their parents were away. When she spotted headlights coming down the driveway, the others would have one minute to dump any cigarettes, beer, and half-dressed boys out the back windows – their mother had the skills of a private investigator when it came to finding evidence of her children’s misbehavior. One night Peppe failed to give adequate warning because she was completely lost in a book. Stephen King and James Herriot were her two (rather diametrically opposed) bookish indulgences. “If not for books and animals, I’d die from boredom,” she thought.
This book is about the things that save us, both large and small. If “the special power of darkness is that it makes you believe there was never any light at all,” pets and beloved books were the pinpricks of light that defied the darkness. Yet the greatest source of light for her was love. Helen followed in the footsteps of several of her sisters by becoming pregnant during her teen years. She’d struck up an intense relationship with Eric, a pastor’s son, at age 15 and was pregnant a year later. (Guess what, though? Eric’s last name was Peppe, so this story has a happy ending: she stayed with her high school sweetheart and they now have two children.)
Her childhood wasn’t all sad, of course. A barn fire, a swimming piglet, a local ghost and an exploding pressure cooker made for plenty of fun antics. Peppe’s anecdotes are charmingly written as well as vividly remembered; I particularly like this metaphor she gives for their immediacy in her mind: “The memories of that night lived close to the surface, ready to be clicked through, one after another, as if on View-Master paper disks.”
If I have one quibble, it’s that Peppe has made the curious decision to give her siblings descriptors rather than names in this memoir. So, for example, readers meet her “blustery-and-favored brother,” her “sister-who-holds-grudges-longer-than-God,” and the “sister-of-poor-choices” who eloped to Delaware at age 17. I suppose eight sibling names are a lot to keep track of, but I found the habit more irksome than quaint.
I was delighted to win a copy in a Goodreads First Reads giveaway.
November 27, 2016
I've really been on a memoir kick lately. I came across this one mentioned in a review of The Sound of Gravel. This isn't about religion the way gravel is, but it is similar in the sense that the author is the youngest of nine children, and this is the story of her childhood living in working-class-poverty, rural Maine.
I'm the oldest child in my family, and the youngest child in my family is thirteen years younger than me. I don't really have a lens into her experience, but I wonder if this would resonate with her. The last thought, not feeling considered as a human with her own ideas and feelings, used as a tool, overlooked in times of need.... It's a bit rough to read, but only because Helen Peppe brings the reader into the story through her emotions and feelings about what is going on. It is painful to see all she did not know, her lack of control over her body and possessions, her lack of understanding of what should belong to her.
[Will insert quotations here when I go back to my iPad.]
I'm the oldest child in my family, and the youngest child in my family is thirteen years younger than me. I don't really have a lens into her experience, but I wonder if this would resonate with her. The last thought, not feeling considered as a human with her own ideas and feelings, used as a tool, overlooked in times of need.... It's a bit rough to read, but only because Helen Peppe brings the reader into the story through her emotions and feelings about what is going on. It is painful to see all she did not know, her lack of control over her body and possessions, her lack of understanding of what should belong to her.
[Will insert quotations here when I go back to my iPad.]
December 4, 2013
Read this book! If you were a child, and I believe you were, this book will mean something to you.
December 4, 2013
Helen Peppe's memoir about life in the backwoods of Maine is filled with love, humor and humiliation (like most childhoods). The animals weren't the only randy mammals on the farm, Helen often found herself in the role of lookout for her love crazy teenage siblings. Escaping into fictional books, Stephen King novels only helped to fill her with fear of the creepy home she lived in, that might just have been haunted by a ghost named Mary. The curse of the youngest, she began school carrying the history of her rebellious brothers and sisters like a cross. Her mother and father suspected their children of being up to no good, sniffing out sex, alcohol, anything they deemed 'bad'.
"..guilty by association, my mother would say when she told my sisters to stay away from the neighborhood tramps and riffraff. That's before she found out the neighborhood considered us the tramps and riffraff."
A line that speaks volumes of childhood is this, "A child's brain is like fly paper that hangs from a barn ceiling: it doesn't get to choose which memories fly away free and which memories stick to death."
Helen has a funny way of describing her siblings without using their names. There is the blustery- favored one (a brother), the sister-who-holds-grudges-longer-than-God, a tough-yet-admirable-sister, also a pretty-hair-twirling-sister. Living among the family is the hanger-on that causes nothing but trouble with his loud-mouthed chauvinistic hard ways that the children all call the bullshit-artist-ass-Skipper. The children are all full of piss and vinegar, and Helen holds her own in the mix. Clever and rarely quiet, she is the questioning child of the family often driving her siblings and parents crazy with her curiosity.
Between wearing hand-me downs and lacking for the attention she needed from her parents, Helen found herself in trouble with no one to protect her, disbelieved for being a story teller. But it wasn't all misery and hardship, we see a family that protects and loves each other in the only way they know how. As her much read author Stephen King's characters proved, no one is normal.
An enjoyable memoir that made me laugh as much as cringe, those who enjoyed Jeannette Walls will love this, and anyone that has ever felt humiliated by their family or themselves.
"..guilty by association, my mother would say when she told my sisters to stay away from the neighborhood tramps and riffraff. That's before she found out the neighborhood considered us the tramps and riffraff."
A line that speaks volumes of childhood is this, "A child's brain is like fly paper that hangs from a barn ceiling: it doesn't get to choose which memories fly away free and which memories stick to death."
Helen has a funny way of describing her siblings without using their names. There is the blustery- favored one (a brother), the sister-who-holds-grudges-longer-than-God, a tough-yet-admirable-sister, also a pretty-hair-twirling-sister. Living among the family is the hanger-on that causes nothing but trouble with his loud-mouthed chauvinistic hard ways that the children all call the bullshit-artist-ass-Skipper. The children are all full of piss and vinegar, and Helen holds her own in the mix. Clever and rarely quiet, she is the questioning child of the family often driving her siblings and parents crazy with her curiosity.
Between wearing hand-me downs and lacking for the attention she needed from her parents, Helen found herself in trouble with no one to protect her, disbelieved for being a story teller. But it wasn't all misery and hardship, we see a family that protects and loves each other in the only way they know how. As her much read author Stephen King's characters proved, no one is normal.
An enjoyable memoir that made me laugh as much as cringe, those who enjoyed Jeannette Walls will love this, and anyone that has ever felt humiliated by their family or themselves.
December 7, 2013
This was an amazing book. I liked everything about it; from the style of writing, to the setting, to the depth of feeling from the author. It is a memoir with some real substance. I was attracted to the picture on the cover, as well as the title, and took a chance on it when it was offered through NetGalley. I am so glad that I did. This was one great coming of age story. Helen is the youngest of 9 children in an interesting, but somewhat repressive family. Her experiences range from funny to heartbreaking. There were so many poignant moments where I actually had to stop and reread what she wrote, then reflect on it. I laughed and cried, but mostly I just felt happy to be sharing in her story. I am just a bit older than the author, but I do relate to many of the things she describes. This is one fantastic memoir and one of the better books I read this year. Recommended highly!
December 4, 2013
Peppe's memoir is entertaining and up-lifting. Her voice is strong in each unique chapter and her use of syntax is one I wish to instill in my students. Even though some of the events could be remembered and recalled with a bitter and a resentful tone, Peppe does not resort to self-pity, nor does she place blame. I will recommend this book to all of my students and to my friends. The author's command of writing makes me want to read more from her. At the school where I teach, we have Jeannette Walls's memoir in our American Literature curriculum. I'm writing curriculum for the CCSS for pre-AP American Literature course and I hope to add Peppe's memoir as a part of the supplementary reading.
February 17, 2014
Helen grew up the youngest of nine on a backwoods Maine farm. Her parents were overwhelmed and struggled to find the money to take care of their large family. Told with humor and grace, Helen relates the joy and sorrows of growing up the youngest. Parts reminded me of my large family of seven children and thankfully some of the things that they got up to I didn't find out until they were older. Would have gotten gray hair at a young age for sure.
A story that will appeal to anyone with siblings, laughter tears and all.
ARC from Netgalley.
A story that will appeal to anyone with siblings, laughter tears and all.
ARC from Netgalley.
November 14, 2013
Helen Peppe grew up on a farm in Maine as the youngest of 9 children. With many siblings much older than her, there are a lot of things going on that she cannot grasp. She’s an innocent and gullible kid, and the combination of taking things very literal while also having an active imagination, makes the world a hard nut to crack. Not that anyone is helping, because the child’s questions are generally ignored. As she remarks herself: “It was, it seemed, my family’s intent to keep me uninformed and confused.”
It never becomes a tale of misery or drama though. I think of this more as a feel-good book than anything else: no one is normal, but Peppe’s childhood takes the cake. I'm still smiling at the thought of many scenes, but one of my favourites is when her father asks her mother: “Why in God’s name does Helen think we’re related to chimpanzees?”
Despite most of it being funny and charming, there are some darker parts that are harder to take. One in particular had me gasping in disbelief at her parent’s non-reaction, and her own belief that nothing was said about it because ‘she didn’t want to go to jail’. No-one apparently had protected the child against something in which she was the victim, and not the wrongdoer.
The book starts very strong, loses some speed in the middle but picks up again when Peppe retells her teenage years. Throughout the book, her use of language is excellent though, resulting in a large amount of highlighted sections on my e-reader.
I could however never quite shake the feeling that this is a collection of childhood stories, rather than a memoir novel. The chapters feel quite disjointed and even within a chapter I sometimes missed a certain flow. It felt more like a regular feature in a magazine – still, it would be one I'd read on a weekly basis with pleasure.
Disclaimer: A review copy was provided to me by the publisher, but does not sway my rating. The review reflects my own experience and opinion. All quotes are taken from the pre-published copy and may be altered or omitted from the final copy.
It never becomes a tale of misery or drama though. I think of this more as a feel-good book than anything else: no one is normal, but Peppe’s childhood takes the cake. I'm still smiling at the thought of many scenes, but one of my favourites is when her father asks her mother: “Why in God’s name does Helen think we’re related to chimpanzees?”
Despite most of it being funny and charming, there are some darker parts that are harder to take. One in particular had me gasping in disbelief at her parent’s non-reaction, and her own belief that nothing was said about it because ‘she didn’t want to go to jail’. No-one apparently had protected the child against something in which she was the victim, and not the wrongdoer.
The book starts very strong, loses some speed in the middle but picks up again when Peppe retells her teenage years. Throughout the book, her use of language is excellent though, resulting in a large amount of highlighted sections on my e-reader.
I could however never quite shake the feeling that this is a collection of childhood stories, rather than a memoir novel. The chapters feel quite disjointed and even within a chapter I sometimes missed a certain flow. It felt more like a regular feature in a magazine – still, it would be one I'd read on a weekly basis with pleasure.
Disclaimer: A review copy was provided to me by the publisher, but does not sway my rating. The review reflects my own experience and opinion. All quotes are taken from the pre-published copy and may be altered or omitted from the final copy.
February 13, 2014
A Child's Eye View of Growing Up in a Large Family
With nine siblings growing up on a farm in the Maine woods, Helen Peppe had an unusual childhood. The farm boasted a variety of animals, but as every farmer knows some of the animals become food for the family. Helen had great difficulty with this as a child because she wanted to love all the animals. The tension between feeding the family and Helen's love of animals is a theme that is repeated throughout the book.
Being the youngest in a very large family, no one had time to give exclusive attention to Helen. She grew up gathering her ideas of life from watching what people did, overhearing scraps of conversation, and asking numerous questions of anyone standing still. I found it fascinating to see how she looked at her family since it was a very unique point of view.
The book is filled with anecdotes, some amusing, some sad. My favorite was catching the pig the family found walking along the road when they were on the way to spend time at a summer camp. Catching a pig and holding on to it can be difficult and highly amusing.
Although I enjoyed the book, I found the writing unsatisfactory at times. I got tired of reading the rather drawn out descriptions of her siblings, such as my hair-twirling-pretty sister, each time they appeared. I wish she'd used pseudonyms. My other quibble was in the disjoint character of some of the incidents. For example, in the barn fire chapter, we start with a rather lengthy description of Helen's desire to steal some of the pink pie when everyone's back is turned. We move from that to the barn fire and then back to the pie. While I'm sure this is the way it happened, reporting on life can make a good story disorganized.
This is a humorous book with some heart warming aspects. Although the author's tends to ramble, it's illuminating to see how a child views the world.
I reviewed this book for Net Galley
With nine siblings growing up on a farm in the Maine woods, Helen Peppe had an unusual childhood. The farm boasted a variety of animals, but as every farmer knows some of the animals become food for the family. Helen had great difficulty with this as a child because she wanted to love all the animals. The tension between feeding the family and Helen's love of animals is a theme that is repeated throughout the book.
Being the youngest in a very large family, no one had time to give exclusive attention to Helen. She grew up gathering her ideas of life from watching what people did, overhearing scraps of conversation, and asking numerous questions of anyone standing still. I found it fascinating to see how she looked at her family since it was a very unique point of view.
The book is filled with anecdotes, some amusing, some sad. My favorite was catching the pig the family found walking along the road when they were on the way to spend time at a summer camp. Catching a pig and holding on to it can be difficult and highly amusing.
Although I enjoyed the book, I found the writing unsatisfactory at times. I got tired of reading the rather drawn out descriptions of her siblings, such as my hair-twirling-pretty sister, each time they appeared. I wish she'd used pseudonyms. My other quibble was in the disjoint character of some of the incidents. For example, in the barn fire chapter, we start with a rather lengthy description of Helen's desire to steal some of the pink pie when everyone's back is turned. We move from that to the barn fire and then back to the pie. While I'm sure this is the way it happened, reporting on life can make a good story disorganized.
This is a humorous book with some heart warming aspects. Although the author's tends to ramble, it's illuminating to see how a child views the world.
I reviewed this book for Net Galley
February 9, 2014
Helen Peppe tells about growing up in rural Maine in a family with parents downtrodden by too many children and not enough money. As the youngest of the nine children, Helen coped with even more older-sibling derision than most of us “youngests” encounter, burying herself in books and animals, and tenaciously asking questions of everyone about everything. The parts of the book dealing with her early child are a bit disjointed – kind of stream-of-consciousness memories. While this is true to childhood, it was distracting enough that I didn’t really become invested until Helen approached her teens and told a more linear story.
Helen refers to her siblings not by name, but by descriptive titles such as “my blustery-and-favored-brother.” While this got old fast, I have to admit that it probably made them stick in my mind a little better than their eight names might have.
This memoir was much less light-hearted than I expected from the synopsis, especially as Helen matured and inevitably had to deal with fallout resulting from the selective attention and neglect she experienced at home. It is well-written and frank, with a dedication to her parents that acknowledges her understanding that they did the best they could, mitigating the harshness of the events and actions depicted.
I received a NetGalley review copy of this book.
Helen refers to her siblings not by name, but by descriptive titles such as “my blustery-and-favored-brother.” While this got old fast, I have to admit that it probably made them stick in my mind a little better than their eight names might have.
This memoir was much less light-hearted than I expected from the synopsis, especially as Helen matured and inevitably had to deal with fallout resulting from the selective attention and neglect she experienced at home. It is well-written and frank, with a dedication to her parents that acknowledges her understanding that they did the best they could, mitigating the harshness of the events and actions depicted.
I received a NetGalley review copy of this book.
March 18, 2014
I feel this was a dark, twisted read masquerading itself as a heartwarming tale of growing up on a backwoods farm in Maine. When I read the synopsis of this book, I was sold on it and couldn't wait to start. However, I am willing to read only so much on what I would consider animal abuse pretending to be every day farm life. Without giving anything exciting away, there was a story in here about an at-home attempt by her teenage brothers to perform a castration on a bull with an ice pick. The outcome being, the bull died a painful death days later from an impacted urethra. Really?? As someone who actually has grown up on a normal farm, this would never have been tolerated by my parents. The bull would have been put down humanely and we would never see the light of day again if we were so cruel to any of our animals...livestock or not. From the drowned kittens, to the hunted piglet that swam to get away, to the bull they left to die, there was too much cruelty in this book. I'm sure there were enjoyable stories mixed in here, but for me, the treatment of their farm animals was too disturbing for me.
October 2, 2013
This is a wonderful and moving book, and hard to put down. Peppe writes what could be dark or distressing scenes that are instead instilled with a self-depreciating hilarity that pulls you in and pulls you along. The whole story is so three dimensional that you really know the characters and can feel empathy for almost all of them, even when they are behaving in ways you can't understand. Highly recommended.
December 4, 2013
A special thanks to NetGalley and Da Capo Books for an advance copy of Pigs Can't Swim.
Pigs Can't Swim is Helen Peppe's memoir of her childhood in Maine. She is the youngest of nine children with overworked parents, a host of characters for siblings, and a menagerie of animals to call her friends. Ms. Peppe's story is one of struggle, abuse, comfort, and hope. I recommend this book to all my reader friends.
Pigs Can't Swim is Helen Peppe's memoir of her childhood in Maine. She is the youngest of nine children with overworked parents, a host of characters for siblings, and a menagerie of animals to call her friends. Ms. Peppe's story is one of struggle, abuse, comfort, and hope. I recommend this book to all my reader friends.
August 12, 2016
If you liked The Glass Castle you'd enjoy reading this book as well. The author was one of 9 children growing up in rural Maine. As the only one in her family that read (Stephen King, coincidence?) growing up, her take of their life full of guns, hunting, animal killing, non-existent parents, bullying siblings is unique and well presented. Her control or words and language is also superb. You will not want to put this book down.
October 20, 2013
As a book seller, I had the pleasure of meeting Helen recently at NEIBA. I highly recommend her debut memoir and can't wait to see what she does next.
December 4, 2013
I went to a convention for independent booksellers, because I am working part time at a bookstore, and new books and pre-publication copies of "books-to-be" were being handed out to all takers; I took several, and felt very lucky to receive them. Authors of many of them were there to sign copies, too.
The book that looked most intriguing to me, perhaps partly influenced by the friendly author who was there and took time to tell me about the story and sign the book to me, was Pigs Can't Swim by Helen Peppe. I don't know where the readers who have already posted their reviews got their copies because the book won't be published until February 2014.
Having spoken to Peppe I was prepared for an interesting story about growing up in a rural area, but I was most impressed by how funny this book is. It all feels real and believable, but her observations sometimes had me laughing so hard I couldn't keep my eyes on the page and had to pause.
I can't recommend this book enough and when it is out next year I will be buying copies for many of my friends to read. I wish it was going to be out in time for Christmas; it would have solved all my shopping problems.
The book that looked most intriguing to me, perhaps partly influenced by the friendly author who was there and took time to tell me about the story and sign the book to me, was Pigs Can't Swim by Helen Peppe. I don't know where the readers who have already posted their reviews got their copies because the book won't be published until February 2014.
Having spoken to Peppe I was prepared for an interesting story about growing up in a rural area, but I was most impressed by how funny this book is. It all feels real and believable, but her observations sometimes had me laughing so hard I couldn't keep my eyes on the page and had to pause.
I can't recommend this book enough and when it is out next year I will be buying copies for many of my friends to read. I wish it was going to be out in time for Christmas; it would have solved all my shopping problems.
January 21, 2014
The youngest of nine siblings, Helen Peppe grew up very close to nature. Her passionate love of all living creatures reminds me of a young Gerald Durrell in My Family and other animals. She is feisty and curious about the world around her. Her family, who alternately love and misuse her, are individuals known only by their characteristics rather than by name.
Surrounded by the sexual goings on of her adolescent sisters and the intimacies of her helpful-friend, she is totally innocent of what life is really all about.
Salvation comes in the form of Eric, one of the few to be named in this memoir, so he is obviously special.
I love the candour of Helen and her interpretation of some events is reminiscent of misunderstandings in my own life. A lovely read about a place and period in time almost untouched by modernity
Surrounded by the sexual goings on of her adolescent sisters and the intimacies of her helpful-friend, she is totally innocent of what life is really all about.
Salvation comes in the form of Eric, one of the few to be named in this memoir, so he is obviously special.
I love the candour of Helen and her interpretation of some events is reminiscent of misunderstandings in my own life. A lovely read about a place and period in time almost untouched by modernity
October 20, 2013
I always finish a book once I start it...whether I like it or not...but, for the first time ever, I just don't think I can finish this one.
Helen Peppe's story is certainly worth telling, as her childhood is full of interactions with her family (and the animals) that are heart-breaking, extraordinarily sad, and/or appalling. Yet, the writing style of this book is very unappealing to me. I find it to be a free-flowing, disjointed telling of her story. I also find very little to keep the reader going, as the content just seems dark upon dark.
I was hoping for a book similar in feel to "The Glass Castle" by Jeannette Walls, but I didn't find it.
Helen Peppe's story is certainly worth telling, as her childhood is full of interactions with her family (and the animals) that are heart-breaking, extraordinarily sad, and/or appalling. Yet, the writing style of this book is very unappealing to me. I find it to be a free-flowing, disjointed telling of her story. I also find very little to keep the reader going, as the content just seems dark upon dark.
I was hoping for a book similar in feel to "The Glass Castle" by Jeannette Walls, but I didn't find it.
January 1, 2014
I found many interesting books available on NetGalley, but few touched my heart with a sense of real honesty. This book was one of those, presenting the many different angles of the author's childhood way of life. From her early years to those confusing teenage years, the author relived the memories that provided life lessons, motivation and sometimes grief to the education she received at school.
There were a number of times that I felt for the author. Her older siblings considered her life to be much easier than the ones they had but the author also acknowledged how hard they and their parents had to work in order to make ends meet. Not only did she write about the darker side of growing up in the country, she also gave the reader a glimpse of how innocent children were back in her generation. In many of her anecdotes, I could see some of my own family members. It made the people within the memoir seem more familiar to me than simple characters within a book.
I cringed when the bad times came into the author's life, wanting more for her to be more than a simple housewife or farmer's wife. When she was placed into a position beyond her understanding, I wanted someone to stand up for her - to protect her innocence. It made me angry that she became the one to blame instead of the perpetrator. Further into the book, I cheered when she realized her worth and was glad that she fought to keep a hold on the one person who could see it as well.
This memoir ran the gamut of emotions, taking me right along with each page I read. The ease in which the author told her story helped to keep the pages turning and made me want to know what was going to happen next. Even if it was something I dreaded to learn, I wanted to read the next page, next chapter. The author didn't try to make herself better than the truth. She wrote about her mistakes as readily as her accomplishments and I believe this made the difference for me. If you're looking for an uplifting, honest and down-to-earth type of memoir, I would put this one at the top of your list.
There were a number of times that I felt for the author. Her older siblings considered her life to be much easier than the ones they had but the author also acknowledged how hard they and their parents had to work in order to make ends meet. Not only did she write about the darker side of growing up in the country, she also gave the reader a glimpse of how innocent children were back in her generation. In many of her anecdotes, I could see some of my own family members. It made the people within the memoir seem more familiar to me than simple characters within a book.
I cringed when the bad times came into the author's life, wanting more for her to be more than a simple housewife or farmer's wife. When she was placed into a position beyond her understanding, I wanted someone to stand up for her - to protect her innocence. It made me angry that she became the one to blame instead of the perpetrator. Further into the book, I cheered when she realized her worth and was glad that she fought to keep a hold on the one person who could see it as well.
This memoir ran the gamut of emotions, taking me right along with each page I read. The ease in which the author told her story helped to keep the pages turning and made me want to know what was going to happen next. Even if it was something I dreaded to learn, I wanted to read the next page, next chapter. The author didn't try to make herself better than the truth. She wrote about her mistakes as readily as her accomplishments and I believe this made the difference for me. If you're looking for an uplifting, honest and down-to-earth type of memoir, I would put this one at the top of your list.
July 27, 2021
I loved this memoir written by a woman who grew up as the youngest child in a family of nine children. Her family had a farm in Maine which was 15 miles from the nearest town. Since their farm was isolated, Helen escaped into books and made friends with the animals on the farm. From that experience she developed a life-long respect for animals and is now a vegetarian.
She does not use the names of her family members and writes using her married name, so the privacy of her family members is somewhat protected. However, she calls one brother still living at home the blustery-and-favored brother, and the sisters portrayed in the memoir include sister-who-holds-grudges-longer-than-God, pretty-hair-twirling-sister, and sad-tittering-sister. By using this device, her readers know which family member she’s talking to/about, but her family’s names are not mentioned. I liked this way of dealing with the privacy issue.
This review has been waiting for me to finish it for several days. I've been trying to figure out how to say how deeply moved I am by Helen's story. I picked up the book again to refresh my memory on some points and ended up re-reading the whole thing. This memoir is life in all its touching, funny, sad and scary moments, and Helen Peppe's writing evokes all these feelings. I can't say enough good things about it.
I received an ARC from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
She does not use the names of her family members and writes using her married name, so the privacy of her family members is somewhat protected. However, she calls one brother still living at home the blustery-and-favored brother, and the sisters portrayed in the memoir include sister-who-holds-grudges-longer-than-God, pretty-hair-twirling-sister, and sad-tittering-sister. By using this device, her readers know which family member she’s talking to/about, but her family’s names are not mentioned. I liked this way of dealing with the privacy issue.
This review has been waiting for me to finish it for several days. I've been trying to figure out how to say how deeply moved I am by Helen's story. I picked up the book again to refresh my memory on some points and ended up re-reading the whole thing. This memoir is life in all its touching, funny, sad and scary moments, and Helen Peppe's writing evokes all these feelings. I can't say enough good things about it.
I received an ARC from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
August 31, 2015
I loved it! I could really relate to this memoir. I think we may have had the same parents(just joking, but they're somewhat similar in the discipline manners. The event with the pig and her family was quite funny as were other events told. I think the author was around my era of when I was growing up and Helen would have been a good friend to have. I think her memoir was vivid in detail, you could feel her emotions of retelling happenings of events on her life, along with the love of her animals and family, it made me smile and cry. I highly recommend this book to people who enjoy memoirs. I won this book for free on the Goodreads giveaway first reads.
February 18, 2014
Don't miss this vivid, funny and touching portrayal of a singular Maine childhood. The youngest of a boisterous brood of nine kids, Helen ekes out a place for herself with her vivid imagination and perceptive human and animal insight.
June 28, 2014
The youngest of nine in a rough brood raised in poverty on a remote farm at the end of the road, the author recounts all the misadventures and escapades as she recalls them. Her overworked parents, an uninvolved, dispassionate father and well meaning but somewhat insensitive mother, do their best with limited parenting skills and old fashioned sensibilities. The narrative is very interesting and makes you wonder how the kids managed to survive to adulthood. I enjoyed that the author used identifiers that use descriptions of personality traits and physical features in lieu of proper names for her siblings. It was reassuring to find out that she grew closer to her mother as an adult and her mother had eventually realized and admitted some of her shortcomings. Being from a relatively large brood myself, I can definitely relate to a lot of the author's story. I have also come to realize that as a child, you misinterpret many things you are told and that, though well intentioned, some of your parent's methods and messages may be misguided and even harmful. Fortunately, my childhood was much more loving, nurturing and affluent. I could tell some stories, though!
January 6, 2015
I never use 5 stars, but this book is worth it.
I also want to start by saying I disagree with the endorsement of "hilarious", although it is a very engaging and at times amusing memoir. It is also sad, and I found myself being continually frustrated for Helen as her young life ticked on and nothing seemed to get better for her.
I am also from Maine, and while you wouldn't think that the voice of an area would come through in writing, it does here, in the hard, matter-of-fact tone that Peppe uses to describe events that, outside of the context of this memoir, we would all find truly horrifying (and are, still, pretty horrifying). The understated determination that the author clearly had to get out from under her unfortunate childhood makes readers feel hopeful. You'll celebrate her triumph by the time you finish this memoir.
Read it, it's great.
I also want to start by saying I disagree with the endorsement of "hilarious", although it is a very engaging and at times amusing memoir. It is also sad, and I found myself being continually frustrated for Helen as her young life ticked on and nothing seemed to get better for her.
I am also from Maine, and while you wouldn't think that the voice of an area would come through in writing, it does here, in the hard, matter-of-fact tone that Peppe uses to describe events that, outside of the context of this memoir, we would all find truly horrifying (and are, still, pretty horrifying). The understated determination that the author clearly had to get out from under her unfortunate childhood makes readers feel hopeful. You'll celebrate her triumph by the time you finish this memoir.
Read it, it's great.
December 18, 2014
this book was a testament to the strength of the human spirit. A memoir filled with stories of neglect, humiliation, and abuse, Helen Peppe managed to instill humor and love into it. The youngest of nine children to busy, busy and worn out parents she has given them the benefit of the doubt for their maladroit parenting and tried to understand them. The book brings into focus the potential damage that living in a backwards type of place can have on one's psyche and intellectual opportunities. However, Helen seems to have conquered her childhood traumas and lives a life of purpose as an adult.
March 2, 2014
An excellent book to begin with, this audio book is a clear and articulate presentation. It doesn't have any "production:" music, sound effects, or voices, like so many current audio books have, but Renee reads with precision and clarity, although not so slowly as to bog down the story. While there is no substitute for sitting down and reading Pigs Can't Swim in print, if you are an audio book user this one is wonderful.
January 19, 2015
Thank you to Helen Peppe and Goodreads for the opportunity to win and read this book.
I enjoy memoirs a lot, especially ones written with passion and honesty. This book is written with both. It was a "dark" read at times, but I am glad to have had the opportunity to read such a transparent book. I see a lot of people comparing it to the Glass Castle. Although I have not read that one, maybe I should. Give this one a try...
I enjoy memoirs a lot, especially ones written with passion and honesty. This book is written with both. It was a "dark" read at times, but I am glad to have had the opportunity to read such a transparent book. I see a lot of people comparing it to the Glass Castle. Although I have not read that one, maybe I should. Give this one a try...
July 9, 2014
I hate that I can't finish this one. I didn't find it funny at all and I can't relate to the love of animals (I don't hate animals, I'm just not obsessed with them). And I found the hyphenated nicknames of the siblings charming at first, then they were just annoying.
Oh well, onto the next.
Oh well, onto the next.
January 9, 2015
I liked this memoir a lot. It ranks up there with The Glass Castle. which I loved. There are also similarities...growing up in a very strange family and being deprived of some of the basic needs (emotional and physical).
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