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Shift Happens: breakdowns during life's long hauls
At twenty-six, Margot Genger, after trying to prevent World War III, landed in a locked facility for the insane. She'd wrecked her teaching career the year before and ruined her marriage the year before that. Humiliated, her reputation shattered, she left her small home town to become a longhaul truck driver.
For fourteen months she lived with eleven different driving partners while battling her bipolar I disorder and trying to stay sober. Pitted against weather, breakdowns, robberies, and characters — both kind and unsavory— Margot battled her demons, honed her strengths, and came to learn the meaning of home.
"... an emotionally loaded intuitive memoir and a rip-roaring American road story in the Jack Kerouac tradition — one with a valiant protagonist that readers will root for." Kirkus Review, February 2019
For fourteen months she lived with eleven different driving partners while battling her bipolar I disorder and trying to stay sober. Pitted against weather, breakdowns, robberies, and characters — both kind and unsavory— Margot battled her demons, honed her strengths, and came to learn the meaning of home.
"... an emotionally loaded intuitive memoir and a rip-roaring American road story in the Jack Kerouac tradition — one with a valiant protagonist that readers will root for." Kirkus Review, February 2019
- GenresMemoir
329 pages, Kindle Edition
First published January 1, 2018
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19 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews
July 15, 2018
I loved reading this book. Margot writes with such clarity and honesty and there are so many subtle lessons to be learned from Margot's experience. It's been more than a week since I read the book, and with the time to process what I've read, I appreciate it all the more.
Margot writes about recovery from alcoholism and mental illness while recounting her adventures as an over-the-road trucker in the early 1980's, but the book is more than an account of Margot's experiences. It's a book about relationships, perception, how we can create our own reality that sometimes later we find wasn't quite as we had imagined.
I admired Margot's spirit and attitude as she traveled the country from one adventure to the next, and I am grateful to her for shining a light on the topic of addiction and mental illness both of which are often intertwined and complicated and effect millions of people around the world. Her book shows that there is hope, there is always hope.
Margot writes about recovery from alcoholism and mental illness while recounting her adventures as an over-the-road trucker in the early 1980's, but the book is more than an account of Margot's experiences. It's a book about relationships, perception, how we can create our own reality that sometimes later we find wasn't quite as we had imagined.
I admired Margot's spirit and attitude as she traveled the country from one adventure to the next, and I am grateful to her for shining a light on the topic of addiction and mental illness both of which are often intertwined and complicated and effect millions of people around the world. Her book shows that there is hope, there is always hope.
November 22, 2020
Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for providing this book in exchange for an honest review.
Margot really leads an interesting life. From being in a locked mental facility to landing a job as a long-haul truck driver. The people she met while driving were quite interesting. Her struggles with alcohol and bipolar were told with real honesty.
Margot really leads an interesting life. From being in a locked mental facility to landing a job as a long-haul truck driver. The people she met while driving were quite interesting. Her struggles with alcohol and bipolar were told with real honesty.
July 11, 2018
Loved this book! Great story, great narration, enjoyed all of it. It's a definite "trip" reading all about her trials and tribulations, experiencing her life on the road. It's got a little bit of everything, all sorts of interesting characters and a great self-discovery journey in dealing with mental illness and addiction. I love the idea of the book, and think it was very well-writtten and so interesting! I definitely recommend this to anyone, I'm in for the long haul! :)
I was given this free review copy audiobook at my request and have voluntarily left this review.
I was given this free review copy audiobook at my request and have voluntarily left this review.
December 20, 2020
Margot Genger's honest, unusual, and heartbreaking memoir of her time as a long-haul delivery truck driver tackles racism, sexism, mental health, bipolar disorder, depression family drama, culture shock, annoying coworkers, alcoholism, classism, and so much more in only a couple hundred pages.
Following what she refers to as a psychotic break after the dissolution of her second marriage (well, almost marriage), Genger made the surprising choice to sign up for truck driving classes and to pursue a job as a long-haul truck driver, delivering all kinds of goods all across the country with an eclectic series of partners who make her life alternately a bit easier and so much more difficult.
I always love a book that can make a topic I had no real interest in something completely fascinating, and Genger certainly accomplished that with this memoir! I knew nothing about truck driving, let alone women drivers, let alone in the late 1970s, but I was wholly engrossed, and now I'm semi-literate in truck infrastructure and have a much greater understanding of how the things I purchase--from food to clothes to technological devices--end up in the places where I shop.
Genger is a strong storyteller, and I really enjoyed the tidbits she shared about each of her partners, the little anecdotes that revealed so much about her experience with each of these men (and one woman) who shared her life on the road. However, there were a few moments when the writing felt a bit choppy, new stories and characters entering and exiting the overall arc too quickly for me to follow. The first example of this was early in the memoir, Genger's recollections of her time in the mental hospital where she was restrained following her breakdown. Impressively written to represent the chaotic thought processes she was experiencing, I think this section came just a bit too early for me to fully process and appreciate what was going on, and I was more focused on worrying that the rest of the memoir would be written so haphazardly than on the details she was sharing and the skill it took to dramatize the reading experience in that way. The second example is Genger's relationship with Hal. I wish we had more insight into how their relationship developed. Instead, we were introduced to Hal as the annoying know-it-all friend of her brother, and then suddenly they were in love. It seems like a sweet story, and I would have been interested in reading more about his redemption and her attraction.
Read from NetGalley in partnership with BooksGoSocial. Opinions stated in this review are honest and my own.
Release Date: 31 March 2018
Following what she refers to as a psychotic break after the dissolution of her second marriage (well, almost marriage), Genger made the surprising choice to sign up for truck driving classes and to pursue a job as a long-haul truck driver, delivering all kinds of goods all across the country with an eclectic series of partners who make her life alternately a bit easier and so much more difficult.
I always love a book that can make a topic I had no real interest in something completely fascinating, and Genger certainly accomplished that with this memoir! I knew nothing about truck driving, let alone women drivers, let alone in the late 1970s, but I was wholly engrossed, and now I'm semi-literate in truck infrastructure and have a much greater understanding of how the things I purchase--from food to clothes to technological devices--end up in the places where I shop.
Genger is a strong storyteller, and I really enjoyed the tidbits she shared about each of her partners, the little anecdotes that revealed so much about her experience with each of these men (and one woman) who shared her life on the road. However, there were a few moments when the writing felt a bit choppy, new stories and characters entering and exiting the overall arc too quickly for me to follow. The first example of this was early in the memoir, Genger's recollections of her time in the mental hospital where she was restrained following her breakdown. Impressively written to represent the chaotic thought processes she was experiencing, I think this section came just a bit too early for me to fully process and appreciate what was going on, and I was more focused on worrying that the rest of the memoir would be written so haphazardly than on the details she was sharing and the skill it took to dramatize the reading experience in that way. The second example is Genger's relationship with Hal. I wish we had more insight into how their relationship developed. Instead, we were introduced to Hal as the annoying know-it-all friend of her brother, and then suddenly they were in love. It seems like a sweet story, and I would have been interested in reading more about his redemption and her attraction.
Read from NetGalley in partnership with BooksGoSocial. Opinions stated in this review are honest and my own.
Release Date: 31 March 2018
October 16, 2020
I received an ARC from BooksGoSocial through NetGalley for an honest review. At 26 Margot was put into a locked facility for the insane and when she got out she left home and became a truck driver. With the struggles she went through because she had Bipolar 1 and was an alcoholic, she never gave up because she had decided she was going to live, no matter what.
She eventually left the road and went home. After all her struggles, she met Hal and they married and had 2 children. She eventually found a doctor and was put on the right medicine and she could think clearly. When her son was in college and her daughter was in high school, she got drunk after 25 years of being sober. Her daughter had brought her boyfriend home and the disgust her daughter had for her reminded her of her and her mother.
She writes her story to share with others. One part that really got to me was she was glad she grew up in the '60s rather than the '30s because the outcome would have been so different, which is true. As she ends the book she celebrates the woman Margot has grown to be but mourns the 50 years of missed opportunities. Everything she went through brought her to where she is today.
With everything she went through she never gave up, determined to live her life, keep moving on, no matter how many times she was knocked down, and now she has written this book for others to read and help them understand what they might be going through.
She eventually left the road and went home. After all her struggles, she met Hal and they married and had 2 children. She eventually found a doctor and was put on the right medicine and she could think clearly. When her son was in college and her daughter was in high school, she got drunk after 25 years of being sober. Her daughter had brought her boyfriend home and the disgust her daughter had for her reminded her of her and her mother.
She writes her story to share with others. One part that really got to me was she was glad she grew up in the '60s rather than the '30s because the outcome would have been so different, which is true. As she ends the book she celebrates the woman Margot has grown to be but mourns the 50 years of missed opportunities. Everything she went through brought her to where she is today.
With everything she went through she never gave up, determined to live her life, keep moving on, no matter how many times she was knocked down, and now she has written this book for others to read and help them understand what they might be going through.
December 13, 2018
What drew my interest at first was that the book was about life as a truck driver because that’s something I know very little about. Also life in the 70s is before my time so that was new to me too. I was also intrigued because the author suffers from Bipolar which as a fellow sufferer instantly makes me interested in a book. This book isn’t “about” Bipolar though. It’s just a small part of the overall story.
I found the most interesting part was seeing what life was like then in all the different states. How many places where blacks and whites were segregated was shocking to me who grew up in the late 80s and 90s mostly.
Margot wrote the book by taking copious notes during that part of her life and putting them together afterwards. But the book reads like there was a narrator telling her story as she lived it. It is well written and had me very interested throughout the whole book. I never got bored. I am very glad to have read her memoir as it opened up my worldview.
If you find women truck driving interesting or like memoirs that don’t hold back on the bad but also have good that makes you smile, Shift Happens is a great read.
I received a copy of this book from the author for review
I found the most interesting part was seeing what life was like then in all the different states. How many places where blacks and whites were segregated was shocking to me who grew up in the late 80s and 90s mostly.
Margot wrote the book by taking copious notes during that part of her life and putting them together afterwards. But the book reads like there was a narrator telling her story as she lived it. It is well written and had me very interested throughout the whole book. I never got bored. I am very glad to have read her memoir as it opened up my worldview.
If you find women truck driving interesting or like memoirs that don’t hold back on the bad but also have good that makes you smile, Shift Happens is a great read.
I received a copy of this book from the author for review
November 6, 2020
Margot Genger complies with social and family norms until one day she breaks and lands in a mental hospital. After her release, she decides to learn how to drive a tractor trailer and plans to write a book about her experiences. "Shift Happens" is that book. Along the way to self-discovery, Margot meets many different people and describes her experiences, the highs and lows of trucking, and her dive into AA in this book.
I appreciated Margot's honest and vulnerable insights into mental illness and family systems. She definitely grows up as the book progresses. I also liked her descriptions of life on the road in a big rig - that job takes a lot of courage and skill!
I gave the book only two stars because the writing style is choppy, and there's plenty of profanity and sexual content in the book. It's also quite boring in places. I was hoping for something different and was ready for the book to end by the end of the first quarter.
I appreciated Margot's honest and vulnerable insights into mental illness and family systems. She definitely grows up as the book progresses. I also liked her descriptions of life on the road in a big rig - that job takes a lot of courage and skill!
I gave the book only two stars because the writing style is choppy, and there's plenty of profanity and sexual content in the book. It's also quite boring in places. I was hoping for something different and was ready for the book to end by the end of the first quarter.
February 9, 2020
What a powerful story! The main feeling I had throughout this wonderful book was admiration for the author's courage in revealing the struggles she has gone through to get to a much happier and content place in her life. Margot Genger shares her story in a completely open and honest manner. I think her book would be particularly helpful for anyone who has gone through his/her battles with mental health and alcoholism. The bulk of her story focuses on her four years as a cross-country trucker driving across America. The series of people she works with and comes across during this period makes for an interesting story in itself, but the real payoff for Margot and the reader comes in the lessons these experiences teach her about herself. I received a copy of the book directly from the author. I'm reviewing this book for no other reason than to tell others what an inspiring read it is.
October 30, 2020
There are aspects of this book which will break your heart despite the conclusion being one of positivity and hope. The sense of grieving for what might have been was strong for me as I read this fascinating woman’s account of a life spanning vastly different experiences. Reflecting on the period in which this is set, it is clear that picking this story up and putting it down even one decade earlier or later would have led to vastly different results. We have so much yet to learn about mental health and how society could respond when people need help. Shift Happens lays it all out there and demands respect through a clear, strong voice. A great achievement by this author.
Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews