Mobile Home: A Memoir in Essays

by Megan Harlan

Mobile Home explores the emotional structures and metaphysical geographies of home as inspired by Megan Harlan's globe-wandering childhood—during which she lived in seventeen homes across four continents, ranging in location from the Alaskan tundra to a Colombian jungle, a posh flat in London to a doublewide trailer near the Arabian Gulf. In ten evocative linked essays, she examines cultural histories that include Bedouin nomadic traditions and modern life in wheeled mobile homes, the psychology of motels and suburban tract housing, and the lived meanings within the built landscapes of Manhattan, Stonehenge, and the Winchester Mystery House. More personally, Harlan traces the family histories that drove her parents to seek so many new horizons—and how they've shaped her: Her mother viewed houses as a kind of large-scale plastic art ever in need of renovating; while her father, a natural adventurer, loved nothing more than to travel, choosing a life of flight that also helped to mask his addiction to alcohol. Alongside Harlan's own journey today attempting to shape a flourishing, rooted world for her son, Mobile Home skillfully maps the flexible, continually inventive natures of place, family, and home.

Genres: Essays, Memoir, Nonfiction, Travel, Biography Memoir, Audiobook

184 pages, Paperback

First published September 15, 2020

About the author

Megan Harlan is an award-winning essayist, poet, and author of two books. Her memoir in essays, MOBILE HOME (University of Georgia Press, 2020), won the AWP Award Series for Creative Nonfiction and was critically acclaimed in The New York Times, Kirkus, Booklist, and elsewhere. Her poetry collection, MAPMAKING (BkMk Press/New Letters, 2010) won the John Ciardi Prize and was called "a miracle of invention" by Alice Fulton. Her writing has been cited as distinguished in Best American Essays 2018, 2019, 2021, and 2023, awarded the Arts & Letters Prize for Creative Nonfiction, and featured in AGNI, The New York Times, Crazyhorse, Hotel Amerika, River Teeth, Colorado Review, and American Poetry Review. She lives with her family in the San Francisco Bay Area and Brittany, France.

Reviews

[Jess · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wry humor and insightful observations fuel this wonderful essay collection. The author's voice is thoughtful, funny, and candid, whether she's writing about nomadic desert tribes, houses in the suburbs, or the history of alcoholism in her family. I appreciated how Harlan integrated research into the larger world into her own stories, making the writing feel outward-looking and engaging. The ten individual essays weave together in unexpected ways into a book-length narrative, returning to and developing themes with creativity and resonance. (Thanks to the publisher for the ARC.)

[Anne W. · Rating 5 out of 5]

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for an advance e-galley.

A smart, witty and emotionally moving memoir-in-essays that asks, "What part of home is mobile?" The collection's subjects and settings literally span the globe (Saudi Arabia, London, Alaska) but are always shaped by the author's insights, curiosity and sense of humor. This is a rare memoir where the viewpoint looks outward as much as it dives inward, as the author seamlessly incorporates research into her own experiences. A fascinating and satisfying collection for history and travel lovers.

[Meghan Connelly · Rating 5 out of 5]

Poetic and philosophical essays about how we create and inhabit our homes. A wide-ranging and witty collection, I read this almost in one sitting.

[Zibby Owens · Rating 5 out of 5]

Mobile Home is a memoir in essays about how the author moved seventeen different times across four continents when she was growing up. This book explores how our homes and our places shape who we are. There are so many things to tease out in this book. One is the effect of frequent moving, and the other is the actual environment into which the author moved. The author tells us how moving gave her a sense of ease with different cultures, providing her with a real curiosity and desire to learn about the world around her. Yet, socially she had a difficult time belonging, making friends, and fitting in. This book also touched on how a child's perspective on a place is entirely different from an adult's point of view. When I finished, I found myself wanting to travel more and learn about the world around me.

To listen to my interview with the author, go to my podcast at: https://zibbyowens.com/transcript/meg...

[Emily · Rating 5 out of 5]

A fascinating collection of essays. It's about so much more than the author's personal story, which is interesting on its own, how she moved around the world with her family growing up. What I loved about the collection is how the author artfully weaves her own experiences into the world around her, exploring architecture (like Joseph Eichler's modernist house designs or the Winchester Mystery House), history (of punk rock in London), archaeology (of ancient Arabian trade routes), and so much more. The engaging and beautiful writing drew me in, moving easily across all these times, places and subjects. A shimmering, intelligent book.

~Thank you for the advance copy by NetGalley and the University of Georgia Press in exchange for an honest review.~

[Olivia L. · Rating 5 out of 5]

Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for the digital galley in exchange for an honest review.

I love to travel, I miss traveling, and so this book arrived at a perfect time for me. Throughout this memoir-in-essays, sensual depictions of places abound, like Stonehenge, and New York City, and the unbroken deserts in Saudi Arabia. But the book goes so much further, since the author illuminates these places with insights, histories, and often a playful yet philosophical sensibility. I love to travel because a journey allows you to experience and learn new things, and to feel a sense of wonder at times, which is exactly why I loved this book.

[Rachel · Rating 5 out of 5]

A very interesting, artful, contemplative memoir in essays about nomadism, home, travel and the impact of place on family and self. I especially loved the language, which incorporated a poet's eye for observation, and I flagged many beautiful, unique passages throughout. The pleasure of travel was balanced with the pain of family addiction, and the book incorporated a fine sense of comedy and tragedy, the personal and the philosophical, intimate detail and a worldly scope. Thanks very much to NetGalley for the reader copy.

[Mark · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is as much a perceptive inquiry into the meaning of place as a memoir. The author uses her many international moves and travels to delve into the philosophy and psychology of place, a.k.a. psychogeography. She cites writers like Gaston Bachelard, Bruce Chatwin and Yi-Fu Tuan to draw the reader into her larger inquiry: why do some places speak to us, why do they matter? These are open-ended questions that the book conveys as explorations, unpredictable and fascinating, all in thoughtful and poetic writing.

[Amy · Rating 5 out of 5]

A highly engaging collection of essays that effortlessly braids memoir with narrative nonfiction. The author uses her shifting relationship with her many homes to great effect, asking questions about belonging that I found thought-provoking (and I had an opposite sort of childhood to hers). I especially loved the essays on punk and counterculture in London, the spider essay, and the essay about the Winchester Mystery House that was really imaginative. Beautiful writing throughout.

[Ellie · Rating 5 out of 5]

Beautiful book of essays about place, home and different kinds of addiction. Why do some people keep moving, and what are they looking for? I'm a TCK (grew up living in many parts of the world) and so the questions about mobility spoke to me, as well as the philosophies people develop to explain their lives. I also loved the way the author brings a sense of adventure, playfulness and humor to her writing.

[Paula · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a book that has stayed with me. The author writes beautifully, but what I responded to most is the insight and sense of humor she brought to all of her subjects: the meanings of travel, family addiction, desert landscapes, NYC history, suburbia, architecture, love and painful loss. It all comes together in a surprising yet harmonious way. Very much recommend.

[Alice · Rating 5 out of 5]

A brilliant and multi-layered memoir that works both as an excellent collection of essays and a larger story about the author's quest for home. The writing is sharp throughout, sometimes lyrical, sometimes very funny, and always moving towards a new insight.

[Alyson · Rating 5 out of 5]

Gorgeous book about nomadism, alcoholism, the meaning of home and how very personal that definition is.

[Wendy Fontaine · Rating 4 out of 5]

An excellent, informative and contemplative collection of research-based essays about what it means to be "at home," from a writer whose family moved often, all over the world, living in 17 different homes. What I loved best about this collection was the combination of research and personal narrative, with a structure that allowed for the weaving of the two. "Spider Season" was my favorite, with "Mystery House" a very close second. I'm glad I found this collection. It's one I will recommend to my friends, particularly those who are writers.

[Kat · Rating 5 out of 5]

A smart and largehearted collection of essays that invites the reader on many interesting and unexpected journeys. I especially loved how a single essay could move across many different times and places (like "Mobile Home," an essay set in Saudi Arabia, South America and Alaska during the 1970s and 80s, as well as contemporary California) and be so clearly constructed and full of good humor and observations. A lovely and insightful read.

[Anne Goldman · Rating 5 out of 5]

During a year in which evidence of climate change becomes illustration of catastrophe, Mobile Home arrives as a solace--a slender volume full of wide open thoughts I will take with my on my own moves and travels. This is beautiful prose: questioning, reflective, expansive, and as airy as the firmament of sky the author sees as her true home.

[Heather Diamond · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a gorgeous book to be read slowly with an atlas and Google at hand. Lyrically and dispassionately written, it opens up and shifts like a series of windows on the world of a modern-day nomad. It is packed with fascinating research, international settings, and profound insights into the multiple meanings of home and the tension between rooting and being on the move. I will read it again.

[Adam · Rating 5 out of 5]

A very enjoyable and insightful book. I was really impressed by the writing itself: it's a great read sentence-to-sentence, full of surprising imagery and turns-of-phrase. But I also admired the way Harlan made her personal history connect to larger human history and cultures in such intelligent and accessible ways.

[Genia Blum · Rating 5 out of 5]

A beautifully written, lyrical essay collection that invites and draws the reader into the many places across the world where the author grew up, to share in memories and insights about family and geography, composed and recounted with compelling honesty and generosity.

[Brittney Kristina · Rating 4 out of 5]

Lovely! While I preferred some essays over others (I adored A History of Nomadism, Dadaholic and Mystery House), Harlan has a gorgeous way of writing. She’s so immerse, and never fails to arise important questions. And, as someone who has resided in the same area for most of my life, I loved learning about what it was like to be a nomad growing up, and how that may effect oneself in the future. A wonderful read!

[Janilyn Kocher · Rating 4 out of 5]

Mobile Home is an interesting collection of Harlan's different homes. Her family was very nomadic. Boxes played a huge role, whether they were full, stored, or being unpacked. Harlan describes the various abodes she has lived in and what they meant to her. It's an interesting collection for the most part. Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC in exchange for my honest review.

[Emma Myers · Rating 4 out of 5]

I couldn’t bring myself to give this book 3 stars even though I was pretty ready to be done by the end - I deeply loved select chapters and passages, uniquely funny and observant essays that made me think about all the different rooms I’ve lived in

[Sophy H · Rating 4 out of 5]

A really interesting set of connecting essays on the concept of home.

Harlan's childhood was the complete opposite to mine in that she moved from continent to continent, across states, from house to house, living out of cardboard boxes but enjoying the excitement of new places, whereas I lived in the same childhood home for 20+ years. It is fascinating to gain the perspective of someone who has had such a different lived experience.

She covers everything here from place and atmosphere, to her parent's coping mechanisms, to 20th century architects, nomadism and settling with her own family. I found it to be an engaging and entertaining read.

4.5 stars

[Marissa Higgins · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a wonderful essay collection. This writer's voice is very, very smart, articulate, and funny, which isn't an obvious combination when it comes to nonfiction. Their wry, dark humor works well throughout. The author masterfully weaves personal narrative and research, so the reader always gets a sense of the "big picture" as opposed to a deep dive into one person's life. My personal favorite parts of the book (and where I think the deepest emotional truths sit) have to do with the writer's father's alcoholism, and how it impacted the whole family dynamic. Some sections of the book felt uneven to me in terms of my personal interest (I'm not a history buff), but overall, the book was very well done and I do recommend it.

[Carrie Honaker · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.5. I really liked this lyrical meditation on home. As a reader, you get the sense of Harlan’s nomadic upbringing while feeling her yearning for a “home.” I loved this quote:
“What do we owe the past? How much of it should we dredge up, how do we use it, and where do we put it?…Artifacts, somewhat ironically, let in fresh air, opening these questions to a vantage point beyond the personal, beyond the limited range of notes carried by any single human voice.”

[Amber Chance · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was not what I thought it was going to be. I also think I might’ve rated it higher had I liked the person narrating but she was too jagged and it was just not good. I really enjoyed the spider story, the story about the architecture and Eichler homes, and the last story about the Sarah Winchester mansion. I kind of want to see it now. I also kind of want and Eichler house. I don’t really want any spiders though.

I wish there was more about her travels and how it shaped her to be the person she is today, but I didn’t really get a feel for that from this book.

I read this via audiobook.

[Christina · Rating 5 out of 5]

As someone who lived in seven countries before age 13 and lived in 3 more as an adult as the daughter of a "high functioning" alcholic, I really related to Megan Harlan's memoir. I found the subjects she covered in this complicated childhood inspirational. I gleaned nuggets of truth in what seemed to be off-topic stuff. It really gave me a a good idea of what a good literary essay is. I borrowed this book from my library but I quickly ordered my own copy as I know I'll want to go back and read this again, underlining and making notes in the margin.

[Clara Enright · Rating 2 out of 5]

I really wanted to like this book because I had a similar experience growing up but I found it very disappointing.

Trite observations and clunky prose and weird sentence construction that often read like a college sophomore trying to impress their professor

Harlan used to work for the New York Times so they gave her a good review and I guess that's how I got sucked into buying this in hardback.

UGH....

[Alex · Rating 5 out of 5]

I savored these essays about place and travel and how they shape a life. It's a book that moves swiftly and insightfully among subjects (Bedouin nomads to London's punk era to California suburbia), in short essays that covered far more ground than you'd expect. Some haunting passages about family addiction and much gorgeous writing.

[Louise (Lou) · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is like a journey where you're not sure of the next destination but are surprised and interested in what you find there. The author is entertaining and observant. It's not a memoir in the tell-all sense but more a collection of classic essays, personal disclosures linked to larger subjects, ideas, places and experiences. Like the best sort of travel but on the page.