Minneapolis. Sitting in Bob’s Java Hut sipping hot tea on a cold, rainy morning. In comes the latest review. I should have drank more tea first. Well, at least Ms. Day and I can agree on one thing. It’s all about me…but life is better when it isn’t.
To some, storytelling comes naturally. In the case of Sarah Moffett, a 27-year-old lawyer and author, it’s apparent that she’s been born with the gift of gab. Humor is her greatest ally. Given her description of relatives near and far, her gift is likely inherited at both the cellular and learned levels.
Her amusing memoir takes readers from her parents’ first kiss onward. It offers details of her rambunctious childhood and walks readers through the painful year, at age 12, when she lost three of her closest relatives.
Highlights include Moffett’s descriptions of trying to blow up a battery with fire and gasoline (with her brother as an unknowing accomplice) and watching rainstorms descend after her uncle’s death.
The book’s weakness rests in the author’s inability to reign in hyperbole and to recollect experiences, particularly as a toddler and young child, with realism. Her retelling (often akin to the “big fish” story) ultimately deters one from believing. And that’s a loss.
It’s when Moffett moves away from self-absorption and into a place of human reflection that the book becomes most enjoyable. One suspects that Moffett’s next book will grow in maturity and wisdom. — Kerry Day
2 responses so far ↓
1 Linda // Aug 20, 2007 at 6:51 pm
You had me laughing throughout, and will check out your book (see, blogs DO work as marketing tools). We have similarities: I’m up the road from you in B’more “moonlighting” as a professor, and we both have Raleigh roots. I’ll come back… Peace, Linda
2 Virtual Mud Wrestling? // Sep 5, 2007 at 10:41 am
[…] in the mainstream press.” And sweetie, I am here to tell you, even if you are reviewed, it’s not always pretty. But I […]
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