American Daughter

December 15, 2020
Plymale's memoir is a gut-wrenching and absorbing portrait of one family's legacy of mental illness and childhood trauma. Growing up, Plymale and her siblings mostly lived in their car, often had to forage for food, and spent time in and out of abusive foster homes. Their mother suffered from mental illness and was, at best, indifferent to their suffering and often accusatory. With the help of her husband, whom she met at 15, Plymale overcame her circumstances; starting a successful design school and raising three children in a loving household. After her mother is diagnosed with terminal cancer, Plymale becomes determined to find out more about her past including who her father is. Scenes of her childhood are interspersed with the present day as she tries to get information, which is near impossible because of her mother's alternate personalities and confabulation. While the timeline can get confusing because of this structure, it won't matter much to folks who enjoy stories of overcoming the odds, especially in the vein of Educated and The Glass Castle.Women in Focus: The 19th in 2020

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January 1, 2021

Plymale has written a harrowing book about the way unhealed intergenerational trauma can corrode a family. Plymale's mother, Florence, was volatile, broken, and incapable of parenting. She was an addict and suffered from periodic breakdowns that left her institutionalized or in jail. The author never knew the identity of her father; she and her siblings were periodically homeless and always impoverished, in and out of juvenile detention and foster care, where Plymale experienced sexual abuse at the hands of one of her foster parents. When Florence was diagnosed with terminal lung cancer in her later years, Plymale began to interview her about both of their childhoods in an effort to understand how and why their lives unfolded as they did. In so doing, she uncovers that Florence was abducted as a child and held captive for 10 days; the details of the trauma she endured at the hands of over a dozen men will leave the reader raw. None of her attackers were held accountable and Florence later developed schizophrenia. Writer Wald helps debut author Plymale tell her story, and Florence's. VERDICT In this sharp, heartrending work, Plymale reconciles with the truth of her mother's life, finding forgiveness, hope, and even pride. Her testimony, while painful to read, is vital.--Barrie Olmstead, Lewiston P.L., ID

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