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The Wind in My Hair–compulsory hijab
The Wind in My Hair
by Masih Alinejad with Kambiz Foroohar
In her memoir The Wind in My Hair, Masih Alinejad, in exile first in Great Britain and later in America, tells the struggles she had and all Iranian women still endure with laws in Iran that make wearing the hijab compulsory from age seven. The “morality police” in that country take this law over what women wear to the extreme. Women can be beaten, flogged, and jailed if even a strand of hair escapes the hijab. Women who have resisted this compulsory law have had acid splashed in their faces and have been incarcerated, tortured, and sometimes raped.
Masih tells her personal story of an impoverished, but mostly happy, rural childhood with conservative parents. Always a bit of a rebel, Masih was expelled from high school in her final semester and jailed for belonging to a small anti-government secret society. Later as a parliament reporter, she was banned from the parliament building for asking the wrong questions.
In exile Masih worked tirelessly and sometimes under threats of violence for the rights of women in Iran. There are more issues involved than compulsory hijab, but that is a visible sign of the control men have over women in Iran. Masih used the tools of social media, especially Facebook and Twitter, to broadcast her positions in Iran where the government controls television and newspapers. The movements she started were given exposure internationally via the Internet.
Masih is highly critical of female politicians and government employees who visit Iran but are unwilling to bring up women’s rights in official discussions and wear some version of head covering during their visit. Masih made recordings of Iranian families’ stories about their dead or missing loved ones called The Victims of 88. Brave women flooded her social media accounts with pictures of themselves without the hijab in the interest of freedom. The Wind in My Hair is well-written by a journalist-storyteller who has lived the story she tells. It will grip you and not release you as you ponder the freedoms you currently enjoy in your own country.
Rating: 5/5
Category: History, Memoir
Notes: Perhaps because she was not raised American, perhaps because she is a journalist, Masih’s perception of current politics and reporting in the U.S. seem somewhat skewed. She clearly understands that you can’t trust reports in Iran, but does not seem to realize that there is censorship in the U.S. by big business, politicians, and the media working in concert. That viewpoint does not change the importance of her analysis of the Iranian government’s control over its people following the deposition of the Shah.
Publication: May 29, 2018—Little, Brown, & Co.
Memorable Lines:
“The Americans are coming to steal Iran away. They’ll kill us all.” I really thought we’d face another war immediately. It was not rational, but, like millions of Iranians, I had been brainwashed by the daily propaganda on the national television and radio stations. I thought it was only Khomeini who was strong enough to stand up to the greedy U.S. capitalists. Many years later, I discovered that Khomeini was a coldhearted dictator who ordered the execution of thousands of Iranians.
I didn’t even know what charges I faced. No one had read the complaint against me. I had no lawyer to defend me. I was forced into giving a confession, and now all that remained was for this judge to pass a sentence. It didn’t sound very just. Later in life, I discovered that there is not much justice in the Islamic Republic.
There is a predictable cycle in Iranian politics, as predictable as the weather. Every year, for a few months, the government relaxes its grip and some actions are tolerated—women can show a few inches of hair under their head scarves, or men and women can actually walk together without being married, or the newspapers can publish mildly critical articles. Then, just like the dark clouds that gather in late autumn, the freedoms are taken away and transgressors are punished.
The Remarkable Ordinary: How to Stop, Look, and Listen to Life
The Remarkable Ordinary
by Frederick Buechner
Art and music as gateways to God—an interesting thought Frederick Buechner uses as the basis of his first chapter in The Remarkable Ordinary. That beginning was a little slow to take hold on me, and it didn’t really continue on as a predominant theme in the book. In fact, the book continues forward in three parts with a total of eight chapters. As I read, I felt like I was examining Buechner’s mind, his thought processes, his memories, and most importantly his search for God in the ordinary things of life. When he began a relationship with Christ, he was “all in.” Not content to read the Bible through as a first step, he wanted to jump right into seminary. He eventually decided that his training in the ministry and his skills would be best used as a writer rather than as a pastor. He never used the term philosopher, but that is what I see him as. The Remarkable Ordinary is part philosophical treatise and part memoir. He delves into therapy sessions, dreams, and family history that helped form his character and beliefs.
Buechner is honest and introspective, and the book is a product of his soul searching. Each chapter is a collection of his thoughts on various themes. He reflects on holiness, our personal journeys, our efforts at controlling others, and the wars we wage with ourselves and those around us. He shows facets of God to us as he examines the arts, other people, the ordinary things around us, and our stories, dreams and memories. He ties all of these parts of the “remarkable ordinary” into our need to “stop, look, and listen to life.”
I actually read much of the book twice in an effort to understand Buechner’s views. It is different from other books I have read by religious leaders. Buechner is very open about his beliefs and his past and yet, probably rightly, he did not reveal all as he continued to clarify his thoughts. Some things are too personal to share with the world. Frederick Buechner passed away on August 15. 2022, leaving behind a legacy of 39 works of fiction and nonfiction in several genres written over a span of 60 years.
Rating: 4/5
Category: Nonfiction, Christian
Publication: October 3, 2017—Zondervan
Memorable Lines:
It seems to me almost before the Bible says anything else, it is saying that—how important it is to be alive and to pay attention to being alive, pay attention to each other, pay attention to God as he moves and as he speaks. Pay attention to where life or God has tried to take you.
We’ve all had saints in our lives, by which I mean not plaster saints, not moral exemplars, not people setting for us a sort of suffocating good example, but I mean saints in the sense of life-givers, people through knowing whom we become more alive.
I was so motivated because I was at that point so on fire with, I can only say, Christ. I was to the point where when I would see his name on a page, it was like seeing the face of somebody you loved, and my heart would beat faster. I had to find out more about him.
I certainly am always at war one way or another with myself, and some of them are wars I must fight to try to slay the demons, to kill the dragon, to lay the ghost to rest. But there are other wars you fight with yourself that are really not worth fighting at all. The war to make yourself be more, do more than you have it in you really to do or to be.
The Healing of Natalie Curtis–destroying a culture by forbidding its music
The Healing of Natalie Curtis
by Jane Kirkpatrick
The Healing of Natalie Curtis is historical fiction based on a period in the life of Natalie Curtis, a classically trained singer and pianist during a time when women in music had few lifetime choices—remain single achieving success as a performer or marry and teach. After suffering psychological trauma which also affected her physically, her brother George, who had been cowboying in the Southwest, invited her to accompany him because living there had done wonders for his health.
Natalie embarked on a developing, many year journey to record the music and dances of many American Indian tribes. She was afraid their voices would be forever lost as the U.S. government had imposed a Code of Offenses forbidding native singing, dancing, and other customs in its desire to assimilate the “savages” into a white culture. If they broke the Code, their food rations were cut and penitentiary was a possibility. Horrified by the treatment of the Indians, she set about to respectfully learn their stories and compile them along with their music in a book. To do this meant she had to gain legal access which she obtained by letters petitioning President Theodore Roosevelt and finally getting personal appointments with him.
Political change was slow and Natalie had roadblocks along the way. Her family wanted her at home, and she needed benefactors to fund her project. She made many friends, both Anglo and Indian along the way. She and her brother spent many nights camping, and she had to learn to ride horses western style. Her wardrobe changed from that of a proper lady in the early 1900’s to outrageous split skirts for riding and plain dresses adorned with native jewelry.
Initially I was puzzled by Natalie’s illness and her abrupt abandonment of the music world for five years, but the causes were revealed as the story progressed. This book is as much about Natalie’s struggle to change attitudes toward the Indians and consequently treatment of them as about the music itself. She threw herself into this project with the same enthusiasm and drive that she had exerted in developing her music career. The book is very factually based except for conversations which had to be imagined but were based on the context of her known travels and meetings. By the time I finished reading The Healing of Natalie Curtis, I had ordered a copy of the book Natalie put together from her research, The Indians’ Book, which was a major resource for author Jane Kirkpatrick. My desire was to see the finished product of almost 600 pages. Wanting to make it clear that the book truly belonged to the Indians, she called herself the editor rather than the author.
I received a complimentary copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.
Rating: 4/5
Category: Historical Fiction
Notes: 1. In keeping with the times, Natalie Curtis, Jane Kirkpatrick, and I have used the designation “Indians” for the indigenous people living in the U.S. The various tribes all had names for themselves in their own languages which often translated as “The People.”
2. The end of the book contains: Suggested Additional Reading, Book Group Questions, and Author’s Notes that address cultural issues and the factual basis for the book.
Publication: September 7, 2021—Revell (Baker Publishing)
Memorable Lines:
This dismissiveness had happened before, mostly with professional men who saw any independent unmarried woman as lacking brains and capable of nothing more than sitting at Daddy’s table and taking nourishment from others.
“What I don’t understand,” Natalie said, “is how the Hopi are punished for practicing their religious customs, and those same songs and dances are advertised to bring people to see them. Burton approves because the railroad wants the business?”
This was what she was called to do, to save these songs and more, to give these good people hope that their way of life would not be lost to distant winds.
PHOTOGRAPHS FROM
THE INDIANS’ BOOK:
Into the Forest–A Holocaust Story of Survival, Triumph, and Love
Into the Forest
by Rebecca Frankel
So many books have been written about World War II and, more recently, about the Nazi treatment of Polish Jews. Rebecca Frankel adds Into the Forest to the collection. It is nonfiction that in many parts the reader would wish it to be fiction, that the torture, annihilation, and deprivation should not really have happened. It is the story of the Rabinowitz family, of the many Jews who died, of the love that persisted through two years of living on the move in the cold forests, of digging holes in the ground to hide from Nazis. It is the story of survival, of triumph as the lives of some of the people in the book intersect years and thousands of miles later.
This book was emotionally difficult to read, knowing it is nonfiction, and thus was a slow read for me. The author knew first hand some of the people she wrote about. She spent five years researching and interviewing. There is a huge section of copious notes detailing where her information came from for each chapter.
The Prologue ties the tale together and is worth rereading at the conclusion of the book. There are two chapters that set the stage of what life was like in the little Polish village of Zhetel before the invasion of the Russians, followed by the occupation of the Germans. Then the focus lands on the German-created Jewish Ghetto, the Polish Resistance, and the various “selections” in which laborers and those destined for the mass graves were chosen. The “lucky” escaped to a huge forest, but many died there as hunted animals before the liberation came. The Rabinowitz family had their eyes set on a future in Palestine, but they had many more moves in their future and were caught up in the growing prosperity of the 1950’s. Into the Forest is a challenging book worth reading. It shows Jewish life and customs in the midst of both tribulation and good times. The book thankfully ends on positivity as the author stresses the various types of love woven into the book.
I received a complimentary copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.
Rating: 5/5
Category: History, Nonfiction, Memoir
Publication: September 7, 2021—St. Martin’s Press
Memorable Lines:
The forest, however, would not be exempt from the war’s brutalities or the bare-knuckled survival required to endure it. Nor would it provide ample shield for the Jews or the partisans—Russian and Jewish alike—who had taken shelter here and set up their outposts in its wilds, no matter how dark or deep. The farther they went and the safer they were, the more determined their killers became to root them out.
In some areas, the advertised reward for information on the partisans or hiding Jews was a single cup of sugar. Which was either a reflection of the paltry value of a Jewish life, or the peasants’ depth of desperation.
But Moscow’s successful onslaught had made the retreating Nazis more dangerous and, however unimaginably, even more murderous. Himmler issued an order to those in the path of the fast-moving Soviet troops: destroy all evidence.
Battle Cry of the Siamese Kitten: even more tales from the Accidental Veterinarian
Battle Cry of the Siamese Kitten
by Philipp Schott, DVM
I had a delightful journey through a series of tales, compared by the author to snacks, in Philipp Schott’s latest book Battle Cry of the Siamese Kitten. It is his third book of this type. It includes animal stories, vet stories, and client stories along with memories dredged up from his unusual childhood as a German immigrant. We gain insight into how he thinks and how he relates to others. There is a lot of humor in the book, and Schott doesn’t shy away from laughing at himself. He has a great way with words that lets the reader experience the animal encounters whether they be disgusting and smelly, bloodletting, or laugh out loud funny. The second tale about a two pound “gorgeous fluffy kitten who channels Satan” will ensure that you are fully engaged as this tiny, very loud, little guy “starfished himself across the entrance” to the kennel looking for a “decisive victory.”
Philipp Schott draws on over 30 years of experience with animals. He is the kind of vet you would want for your own pets—caring, hardworking, kind, intelligent, and honest. Unless you live in Winnipeg, Manitoba, you are unlikely to meet him. He lives there with his family and four animals who admittedly receive people food from time to time as treats. Although she did not contribute to this book, his wife is also a veterinarian and probably a very patient person.
I received a complimentary copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.
Rating: 5/5
Category: Memoir, Nonfiction
Notes: The more I read, the more I liked what I was reading and even went back to read a few tales again for pure pleasure.
Publication: October 11, 2022—ECW Press
Memorable Lines:
Supercat put his ears back flat and stared at me with an intensity that signaled a level of hatred two steps beyond loathing.
I am not easily bored, but this was an exception. Flies fell asleep in that class.
Have you ever noticed this? The happiest dogs are the ones carrying sticks. And if the sight of a happy dog carrying a stick doesn’t gladden your heart, then what are you doing with this book in your hands?
Through Gates of Splendor–a call from God
Through Gates of Splendor
by Elizabeth Elliot
Five young men felt God’s call to share the good news of Jesus with an Ecuadoran Indian tribe that had never had positive encounters with outsiders. Their bad experiences date back to the ruthless rubber traders of the 1870’s—“civilized savages against unbaptized savages.” They had Stone Age technology, were feared by other Indians for their unprovoked ambushes, and had a language known only to themselves. The missionaries and their wives had a daunting task. They started by evangelizing more friendly local tribes and establishing bases, many refurbished from areas abandoned by Shell Oil Co. From these bases they did flyovers of the Auca land, first to find where in the jungle the Aucas were living and later to communicate with them by dropping gifts to demonstrate their friendly intentions.
When they felt the time was right, they finalized plans to land and meet with the Aucas in person. The book becomes very intense at that point. After an initial positive meeting, there is literally radio silence instead of the expected call back to the wives. A search and rescue team went in consisting of Ecuadorian military, volunteer missionaries and Indians, and U.S military. It was a dangerous mission.
Although the preparation and action are the basis of the story, the core of the book is faith in God. Elizabeth Elliot, the author of Through Gates of Splendor, was the wife of Jim Elliot, the first missionary of the group to respond to God’s call to contact this people group who had never heard of Him. Jim Elliot was willing to die if need be to share the good news of salvation to the Aucas. He said, “He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep to gain what he cannot lose.” The story of the lives of these young men and their dedication to God is inspiring and many of their notes and thoughts are recorded in this book. In its pages you will see a vivd picture of what God’s call can look like as well as how these missionaries and their wives responded.
Rating: 5/5
Category: History, Christian, Memoir
Notes: The 40th anniversary edition which I read included:
1. Maps
2. Photographs, many taken at great peril by a Life magazine reporter who chose to stay with the search party when he could have returned to the base and safety.
3. Two Epilogues. One was written in 1958 explaining the immediate aftermath of the first contact and one written in 1996 relating the lives of the families as they evolved over the next 40 years.
Publication: Originally 1956
40th anniversary edition in 1996—Living Books (Tyndale)
Memorable Lines:
“If that old engine had quit up there, God alone could have saved me. I might just as well admit it frankly right here; I don’t like to fly over stuff like that and I have to have a pretty good reason to be over it without a good position-check and a good river to identify my position by. But these are people for whom Christ died, and you have to find them before you can take the Gospel to them, so I was happy to have stumbled on them.”
Pete Fleming was one of those who could not be content while the Aucas remained in darkness. In his diary he wrote: “It is a grave and solemn problem; an unreachable people who murder and kill with extreme hatred. It comes to me strongly that God is leading me to do something about it, and a strong idea and impression comes into my mind that I ought to devote the majority of my time to collecting linguistic data on the tribe and making some intensive air surveys to look for Auca houses….I know that this may be the most important decision of my life, but I have a quiet peace about it.
September, 1955, was the month in which Operation Auca really started, the month in which the Lord began to weave five separate threads into a single glowing fabric for His own Glory. Five men with widely differing personalities had come to Ecuador from the eastern United States, the West Coast, and the Midwestern States. Representing three different “faith-missions,” these men and their wives were one in their common belief in the Bible as the literal and supernatural and perfect word from God to man. Christ said “Go ye”; their answer was “Lord, send me.”
Tomboy Bride: One Woman’s Personal Account of Life in the Mining Camps of the West
Tomboy Bride
by Harriet Fish Backus
If you ever thought of memoirs as a boring genre, I encourage you to sample Harriet Fish Backus’ Tomboy Bride. It is anything but boring. “Tomboy” refers to the Tomboy Mine, located above Telluride, Colorado, and “bride” is the author Harriet who moved there in 1906 immediately after her wedding at the age of twenty with her mining engineer husband George Backus. The first half of the book describes the difficulties and adventures inherent in living in an almost impossible to reach area with only the barest necessities. Harriet was a city girl and had a big learning curve in basic survival skills in the remote, dangerous, high altitude mining camp—everything from baking at over 11,500 feet to how to wade in long skirts in the snow to an outhouse located quite a distance from the home.
The second half of the book relates a series of moves to various mines along with changes in mining fortunes. Not every mine was successful, and the country’s economic twists affected the mines as well. Their adventures took the couple to Britannia Beach, British Columbia; Elk City, Idaho; and Leadville, Colorado. They had several children and lived through World War I and the Great Depression. George’s mechanical ingenuity landed him a job in Oakland, California, which he held for 37 years, but Harriet’s fondest memories are not the ones of ease in the city, but of struggles, love, and friendship in the mountains.
Mining was a difficult and dangerous business. This was true even for college educated mining engineers who suffered from the cold, long hours and perils along with the miners. Mortality rates were high because of the distance to health care. Transportation was slow and uncomfortable along the treacherous snow packed mountain trails. Water and coal had to be carried by hand from dropping off points up slippery, snow-covered slopes to their homes by the residents. The only fruits and vegetables available were canned and brought up monthly on burros. Because of the isolation, residents tended to work as a community. As long as Harriet and George were together, they were happy despite, and sometimes perhaps because of, their shared hardships.
Rating: 5/5
Category: Memoir, History
Notes: 1. I recommend the 50th anniversary edition of Tomboy Bride because it includes many photographs that bring the story to life.
2. There is a timeline at the end of the book.
3. This is a great book for a book club to read as it is ripe with topics for discussion. Tomboy Bride includes thought provoking questions at the end of the book which our book club found quite helpful.
Publication: 2019—West Margin Press
First publication—1977
Memorable Lines:
On reaching his destination the rider tied the reins to the pommel of the saddle and turned the horse loose. Regardless of the distance, knowing the trails far better than most riders, the horse quietly and surely returned to the nearest stable, at the Tomboy or in Telluride.
Crash! What sounded like pounds of glass breaking into bits was only an old cigar box filled with nails that had fallen from a shelf. Even the rats laid low that night, at least we did not hear them. My chattering teeth kept time to the rattling of the old stovepipe fastened by wires to the rafters. The denim “carpet” rose and fell like ocean billows and wind crackled the newspaper padding.
…at the end of a month we both felt inwardly the call of the wild. Somehow, after the serenity of our mountains, the city seemed tawdry and confusing.
I’ll Be Seeing You–aging
I’ll Be Seeing You
by Elizabeth Berg
Aging. A theme as old as the passing of time. Elizabeth Berg addresses it in her memoir I’ll Be Seeing You. She describes the challenges of growing old while trying to help her aging parents as they grow even older. It’s tough. We all know that. And it’s different for everyone. Rather than unhelpful generalizations, Berg shares her very personal story—mostly stressful, often frustrating, and sometimes funny.
Berg’s parents, in their late 80’s, are faced with the need to downsize and move to accommodations that are safer and provide opportunities for a continued happy life, but with more constraints. Her father has Alzheimer’s, and her mother is angry and feels suffocated. Berg and her siblings try to help, to make the transition as easy as possible. In the almost year-long transition process she “learned a lot about them, and just as much about myself.”
Berg is an excellent writer. She explores her own aging, her relationship with her parents, and the couple’s love for each other with sensitivity and honesty. Berg turns a tale of aging, decline, and loss into a page turner that explores confronting the inevitable hurdles in life rather than being victimized by them. Although the most visible theme is aging, love permeates the tale with the kind of affection and devotion that lasts a lifetime.
I would like to extend my thanks to NetGalley and to Random House for giving me the opportunity to read this book in exchange for an honest review.
Rating: 5/5
Category: Memoir
Publication: October 27, 2020—Random House
Memorable Lines:
A kind of wild optimism that was in all of us that has eroded as it must with the tired realities of life, with the anvil of aging that has fallen on our parents and will fall on us, too, should we live that long.
I am, as is easy to see, full of hope. But I have to remember something I always forget: you can’t tell anyone else how to experience something. People live behind their own eyes. I’m not the one with the broken arm.
Yes, life is a minefield at any age. Sometimes we feel pretty certain that we know what’s coming. But really, we never do. We just walk on. We have to. If we’re smart, we count our blessings between the darker surprises. And hope for a fair balance.
A Dream Called Home–search for happiness
A Dream Called Home
by Reyna Grande
Torn between two countries, immigrant Reyna Grande seeks to find herself. Is she Mexican or American? Will she ever fit into either culture? Is she destined to metaphorically straddle the border for a lifetime? When her first book was published in 2006, one of her dreams had come true and she had begun “a lifelong quest to advocate for the Mexican immigrant community by sharing our stories with the world.” What she found in the aftermath of its publication, however, is that her story resonates with other immigrant communities as well and even with Native Americans who feel the same struggles to maintain a dual identity, language, and culture.
Reyna’s difficult, abusive childhood is discussed at various points in her memoir A Dream Called Home as it plays a strong and recurrent role in her efforts to work through the emotions of her turbulent past through her writing. She makes mistakes along the way as a college student and as a young adult, but she learns from them and decides to experience them as a part of the growth that shaped her into “a unique individual with a unique voice.”
The memoir is filled with stories of her personal relationships. She realizes that she is subconsciously seeking out the love of her father that she never felt under his roof or when he left his family in poverty to earn money in the United States. Reyna and her siblings wrestle with so many decisions in the U.S., and Reyna has to accept that the pathway to healing and success for her is not the right one for them. Fortunately, she has Chicana professors that become lifelong mentors. Even though Reyna is a talented writer, she also has to learn the difficult business end of publication.
Her stint as an untrained middle school teacher in Los Angeles is both sad and predictable for those familiar with teaching in that climate. She experiences unsupportive parents, disrespectful students, and ever changing assignments and curriculum. A bright light for Reyna is her introduction to folklórico. It revives her own interest in her Mexican heritage and renews an enthusiasm in Mexican culture for her students, many of whom, like Reyna, feel displaced and unsettled.
Reyna’s story can not be summarized in a review. My job is to tell you that A Dream Called Home is a book you should read; it should be a part of your mental catalogue. Regardless of your position on the influx of immigrants currently overwhelming the U.S. and its broken political system, you will find Reyna Grande’s perspective both informative and enlightening if you want to understand the struggles of people desperate to emerge from poverty who are clinging to the hope of the American dream.
Rating: 5/5
Category: Memoir
Notes: Includes pictures that personalize Grande and her experiences
Publication: 2018—Atria
Memorable Lines:
My biggest virtue and my biggest flaw was the tenacity with which I clung to my dreams, no matter how futile they might seem to others. The dream of having a true relationship with my parents was the one I had clung to the most because it was the first dream I’d had, and the farthest from my reach.
“Being in a new country, learning a new language, a new culture, takes time. You will learn. It doesn’t feel that way now, but one day you will be just as comfortable speaking English as you are speaking Spanish. But no matter what, don’t ever forget where you came from, and don’t ever be ashamed of who you are.”
I was finally beginning to understand that it takes as much courage to leave as it does to stay, and that being a parent was way more complicated than I had ever imagined.
Little Heathens–Hard Times and High Spirits on an Iowa Farm During the Great Depression
Little Heathens
by Mildred Armstrong Kalish
There are a variety of tales and anecdotes about life during the Great Depression, yet many who survived don’t want to talk about it. The experiences of those in the cities were quite different from those living in the country. Regardless of location, however, all but the very wealthy suffered and their lives and perspectives were formed or altered by their experiences.
In Little Heathens, Mildred Armstrong Kalish shares what life was like for herself and her extended family. It is somewhat difficult to distinguish between the normal trials of endless farm work and the efforts needed to reuse and repurpose items because of deprivation of money and resources. “Thrown away” was a foreign concept during this time and thrift was the champion of the day. Kalish shares the many saving and “make-do” tricks that were common during the Depression and some that were uncommon. Many of those have fallen out of use, but are still handy to know and good examples of the resourcefulness of our predecessors.
Kalish lays her memories out forthrightly, not concealing or varnishing the stories. Many are humorous and several are gasp-worth. Children worked alongside adults learning by example and experience. Farm life required the whole family to pitch in. Chores were divided by age and gender, but not strictly. For example, Monday Wash Day was a very physical, all-day task for which preparations began on Sunday night. Children and adults wore the same set of clothes all week, and everyone participated in wash day. The need for everyone to work together is apparent in the book over and over again.
Kalish addresses the many aspects of life at that time as seen through the eyes of a child who was an active participant. She has an incredible memory for detail right down to how to catch, kill, and prepare a snapping turtle for consumption. She also discusses the social aspects of community inside and outside the family unit. Her life was unique in that she lived in town during the winter and on a farm during the growing season because of her family situation. Her life was very different in each place, but the expectations of a good work ethic and attitude never changed.
The author viewed the hardships of her childhood as instrumental in her many achievements later in life. From success as a “hired girl” to working her way through college to her happy marriage and career as a professor, Kalish gives credit to her family, especially her mother: “Mama’s ability to meet challenges head-on and with a positive attitude created in us kids a sense of confidence that there was a way to solve every problem—just find it.” Although her life was hard, it was not unhappy and she prizes the memories of her past. I enjoyed her writing style, learned from the information she shared, and relived some of my past as I have memories of my Depression-era parents handing down wise sayings and thrifty values. Well done, Mildred Armstrong Kalish!
Rating: 5/5
Category: Memoir
Publication: May 29, 2007—Random House (Bantam)
Memorable Lines:
Mama, Aunt Hazel, Uncle Ernest, Grandma, and Grandpa had a real gift for integrating us children into farm life. Working alongside us, they taught us how to perform the chores and execute the obligations that make a family and a farm work.
An Old Maid (that’s what we called unmarried women in those days) was asked why she didn’t try to find a husband. Her reply was, “I have a dog that growls, a chimney that smokes, a parrot that swears, and a cat that stays out all night. Why do I need a husband?”
After our chores and household duties were done we were given “permission” to read. In other words, our elders positioned reading as a privilege—a much sought-after prize, granted only to those goodhardworkers who earned it. How clever of them.
She kept all of her needles stuck into a red felt pincushion which she had owned since just before God.
education pathways 