A Written Life

by Jesaka Long

because the alphabet's personal

writer | reader | freelancer | laugher jesakalong.com

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3 posts tagged book review

Book review: RUNAWAY GIRL by Carissa Phelps with Larkin Warren

Runaway Girl - Carissa Phelps“No one ever said, ‘We love you, and it matters to us that you’re safe. Please stay home.’” This line from Carissa Phelps book RUNAWAY GIRL (with Larkin Warren) is heartbreaking for many reasons, most specifically because 1) it’s true and 2) its aftermath is devastating throughout Carissa’s young life.

RUNAWAY GIRL is a memoir of young girl who tried to escape her crowded, hungry household and her stepfather’s wrath through sleepovers with friends, which grew into stays that extended until she was told to go home. Desperate, she began to run away, avoiding her home for as long as she possibly could. Then her mother left her at Fresno’s Juvenile Hall. Carissa was only 12.

By the time she was 14, Carissa was a juvenile hall escapee who found herself sold for sex and drugs by a violent pimp and his girlfriend. Life starts to look up for her when enters a last-chance rehab facility for young people and meets a counselor who was patient and determined enough to reach Carissa through her pain.

As she discovers her love—and gift—for math and begins to reconnect with the world around her, it seems as though she’s on her way to a safer, less tumultuous life.

But it’s not that easy for her. In several searing, heartbreaking scenes, Carissa is invited by caring adults to live with them. Even though it’s clear she longs for the comfortable, giving homes they can provide, she can’t bring herself to say yes. The fear of being trapped by rules sends her running again and again. Her only “home” is the house with her mother and stepfather—and it’s clear that’s not an option for Carissa.

The book’s jacket copy informs readers that Carissa obtained her law degree and an MBA. Her journey from the street to the UCLA classroom is hard-fought and gut wrenching. But it’s her discovery of how her story can help other people that is so compelling—not because she realizes she can help people but because it never occurred to her.

“Looking for sympathy is ‘poor me,’” she writes. “Learning empathy is ‘We’re all in this together.’” She also writes, “As I realize the value of my suffering, I see that others feel pain and that they have found ways to muddle through it. The suffering we have in common makes me feel less alone, less singled out.”

Carissa shares her struggle with forgiving her mother as well and her approach to it as “putting out her own fire” is mind opening. So many memoirs end with a tearful reunion scene, a daughter forgiving a mother and forging a new relationship. Carissa’s is not so straightforward, which makes it all the more relatable.

RUNAWAY GIRL should be required reading for anyone with kids, especially girls, in their lives. In addition to sharing her story of strength and survival, she also educates with statistics such as this one: “One in seven American children will run away from home, and within forty-eight hours, one out of three will be asked, as I was, to ‘take care’ of someone.” Carissa’s book is not easy to get through, but it is a must read. 

Take this suggestion: read You Take It from Here

When literary agents say they are looking for “voice-driven” writing (of any genre), I imagine they are looking for someone like Pamela Ribbon.

Because I’ve been so immersed in the world of creative nonfiction and memoir for the last few years, my fiction reading is rather anemic. However, I wanted to read something different while recovering from oral surgery and I enjoy reading Ribbon’s blog at Pamie.com, so I started with her third (and, at the time, most recent) book Going in Circles.

And promptly fell in love. Within two weeks, I’d read Going in Circles, plus her earlier books Why Moms Are Weird and Why Girls Are Weird. So if it’s not obvious already, I approached her new book You Take It from Here (out July 3) as a fan.

The premise is that Danielle’s best friend Smidge is dying of cancer and wants Danielle to take over her life when she dies, to become “Smidge 2.0.” The book description declares it “in the spirit of Beaches and Steel Magnolias,” so I was a little skeptical, like maybe it would be too sweet or feel like something I read when I a teenager longing to leave Texas. 

But then I read the first line: “Jenny, I’ve got this hunch that if you’re reading this, your other hand is currently holding a lit match.” I was hooked. The book is essentially a (very) long letter to Smidge’s daughter, explaining and commenting on Smidge’s request and its aftermath. If Danielle thinks Jenny is going to burn this letter, then I have to know what happens. The novel follows the two women after Smidge makes her request and it’s an interesting ride, one you should read in the novel, not in a review. (Yes, you should read this book.)

Ribbon’s writing is so smart and unafraid that her characters feel like people I’ve known and loved—and hated, but couldn’t help but love. (As Smidge would say, “I hatechoo.”) Smidge is a force of nature and it’s heartbreaking that she’s facing terminal cancer, but Ribbon doesn’t make her a martyr or an angel. (In fact, a Southern belle of a devil could be an appropriate description at times.) And Danielle is also a smart ass who’s tough and goofy, yet deeply wounded by the parents who left her. It’s easy to understand why these two women became family and why Danielle would even consider fulfilling Smidge’s request that she become “Smidge 2.0.”

Ribbon’s book is a rare book in that it’s genuinely sassy, smart and heartfelt, that sounds real people, and is fun—and is not consumed with finding a husband/wife, having a baby, or shopping and losing weight.

You Take It from Here is the perfect summer read: entertaining enough that it feels at home next to the pool, and compelling enough that you risk sunburn because you can’t quit reading. (Okay, I got sunburned because I couldn’t put down the book.)

 

Thanks to Rare Bird Lit for a preview copy of this book. 

This is the book trailer for Jean Zimmerman’s debut historical thriller THE ORPHANMASTER, which is in stores today. Even if the genre isn’t among your usual reading (as is my case) the trailer is an intriguing mix of historical facts and storytelling. By listening to the author share the history of the time (16th century) and the location (the Dutch colony of New Amsterdam, present day lower Manhattan) she chose, I wanted to learn more. 

What’s also interesting about the author is that she’s known for writing nonfiction focusing on the changing roles of women in America; THE ORPHANMASTER is her fiction debut. Jean talks about switching from nonfiction to fiction in this Q&A excerpt below. 

You’ve had considerable success as a writer of nonfiction. How did it feel to make the transition to fiction?

I’ve always considered it an incredible privilege to write nonfiction, as you get to snoop in private lives via letters, diaries, etc., in order to tell your story. That said, in writing on some historical subjects, particularly the lives of women, these sources are not always readily available. I found that I could use the research I had done and expand upon it imaginatively in a way that was extremely satisfying.

To produce its powerful effects, THE ORPHANMASTERmingles historical fact with some imaginative storytelling. What are some of the more surprising discoveries that you happened on in your research?

I found a map that was drawn in 1660, the first street plan of Manhattan, which conveys every street, structure, meadow and garden in the settlement. It was the world of my characters, and it was the geographical jumping-off point of my work. Also vital was the discovery of the orphanmaster function, an official job that was needed because of the dire trend toward parental deaths through sickness, shipwrecks or Indian incursions. And I also was surprised to learn about the sport of pulling the goose!

Learn more about Jean, including her fiction and nonfiction works, on her website. 

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