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Growing Up Moffett: The Rise and Fall of Innocence in a Pathos Plagued Year
A Gen-Y, coming of age memoir about a family encountering and overcoming tragedy through the eyes of their precocious and witty 12-year-old daughter. In a writing style somewhere between Harper Lee and Sarah Vowell, author Sarah E. Moffett recalls the time when, at age twelve, the life of her family suddenly began to unravel after a simple phone call from a dying family member. What follows is a struggle to retain faith, hope, and love in the midst of inexplicable death and loss. Growing Up Moffett is written from a child s perspective, yet embraces the darkness that comes with the loss of innocence and the beginning of grasping death on an intimate level at an early age.
224 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2007
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Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews
October 9, 2007
(The much longer full review can be found at the Chicago Center for Literature and Photography [cclapcenter.com].)
As anyone who has tried it before can attest, the writing of a creative personal memoir can be a much trickier thing than it might seem at first; that even though it's true that most of us have at least one fascinating story from our real pasts, there's a wide gulf between that and a finished book the general public will find entertaining. There is the uniqueness of the story to consider; there is what the person learned about life from the experience, and what insights they have to share with others. There is the issue of real people turned into literary characters, a process that does not necessarily produce great results every time; and then there's the writing skills of the memoirist themselves, and of whether they understand the proper points of their life story in which to start and finish their manuscript. As thousands have remarked on separate occasions now over the centuries, there's a difference between a captivating real story and a captivating book, with one of these not necessarily equalling the other.
And thus do we arrive at the awkwardly titled but still compelling Growing Up Moffett: The Rise and Fall of Innocence In a Pathos-Plagued Year, by an attorney in the Washington DC area named Sarah Moffett; it is basically a look at a particularly craptastic year from Moffett's childhood, where in a single twelve-month period she lost three close family members (grandmother, grandfather and uncle) to cancer, which she then uses in the book as a springboard into more general thoughts concerning childhood, loss, family, and her strict Christian faith. (In fact, this is an important thing to understand before picking the book up in the first place -- that it is published by a Christian-based small press, and that the book has a specific pro-Christian message.) And indeed, faith-based philosophical opinions about life aside, the heart of the book is a sincerely page-flipping tale of grief, the coping process, and the power of family to get past it all; but unfortunately, like many other such memoirs from beginning writers, Moffett has difficulty determining where to begin and end her story, subjecting us instead to a bevy of unilluminating and superfluous thoughts concerning EveryFamily USA, thoughts that will be of little interest to anyone outside of Moffett's own family and friends. It's an intriguing book, a read I'm glad I made, solidly written if nothing outstanding; unfortunately, though, it's about twice as long as it should be, with a first half that could literally be lopped off without missing a single story element of note.
As with many memoirs, the best place to start...
As anyone who has tried it before can attest, the writing of a creative personal memoir can be a much trickier thing than it might seem at first; that even though it's true that most of us have at least one fascinating story from our real pasts, there's a wide gulf between that and a finished book the general public will find entertaining. There is the uniqueness of the story to consider; there is what the person learned about life from the experience, and what insights they have to share with others. There is the issue of real people turned into literary characters, a process that does not necessarily produce great results every time; and then there's the writing skills of the memoirist themselves, and of whether they understand the proper points of their life story in which to start and finish their manuscript. As thousands have remarked on separate occasions now over the centuries, there's a difference between a captivating real story and a captivating book, with one of these not necessarily equalling the other.
And thus do we arrive at the awkwardly titled but still compelling Growing Up Moffett: The Rise and Fall of Innocence In a Pathos-Plagued Year, by an attorney in the Washington DC area named Sarah Moffett; it is basically a look at a particularly craptastic year from Moffett's childhood, where in a single twelve-month period she lost three close family members (grandmother, grandfather and uncle) to cancer, which she then uses in the book as a springboard into more general thoughts concerning childhood, loss, family, and her strict Christian faith. (In fact, this is an important thing to understand before picking the book up in the first place -- that it is published by a Christian-based small press, and that the book has a specific pro-Christian message.) And indeed, faith-based philosophical opinions about life aside, the heart of the book is a sincerely page-flipping tale of grief, the coping process, and the power of family to get past it all; but unfortunately, like many other such memoirs from beginning writers, Moffett has difficulty determining where to begin and end her story, subjecting us instead to a bevy of unilluminating and superfluous thoughts concerning EveryFamily USA, thoughts that will be of little interest to anyone outside of Moffett's own family and friends. It's an intriguing book, a read I'm glad I made, solidly written if nothing outstanding; unfortunately, though, it's about twice as long as it should be, with a first half that could literally be lopped off without missing a single story element of note.
As with many memoirs, the best place to start...
December 15, 2009
This Coming of Age Memoir by a young woman who's only 26 belies her age by her wit and wisdom. Funny, well-read, and conversational, Ms. Moffett gives you the inside scoop of her 13 year old mind and faith-filled Catholic family through the year the defined her purpose for the next 13 years. You'll laugh with her and be inspired as she works through grief.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
August 23, 2008
This book was actually written by Greg's cousin. It tells the story of a period in their family's life when they lost her grandpa, grandma and uncle. It was really neat for me to be able to learn more about their family, and Sarah is an extremely talented writer too!
October 17, 2008
A must-read for anyone who's been a child, lost a loved one, or had to grow up quickly. Witty, heartwarming, makes you laugh and cry simultaneously.
April 21, 2016
It's really good but prepare with a box of Tissues!
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews