Grand

May 15, 2020
A comedian and Emmy-winning TV writer recounts her whitewater rafting journey through the Grand Canyon and her struggles with unresolved family issues. In her 40th year, Schaefer decided to take members of her family on individual vacations, culminating in a rigorous guided rafting journey down the Colorado River with her younger sister, Ross. At the outset, she confesses to having a deep fear of rafting, and she shows how their eight-day adventure evolved into a series of challenging feats, both physically and psychologically. In alternating chapters, Schaefer delves into her past, beginning with a pivotal event from her childhood when her father confessed to his family and community that he'd been embezzling clients' funds from his business. This led to significant downsizing from their affluent way of life while the family's reputation would be forever tainted in their community, and the revelation dramatically affected Schaefer's future. "Inside of me," she writes, "the story got smaller and closer together as I memorized an easily digestible version of what had happened. Dad became his own cautionary tale. He had made a lot of bad choices. Then, he had made a crucially good one by telling the truth. Mom forgave. Jesus forgave. We forgave. That's a wrap, folks!...I swore to myself that I would never repeat his mistakes, and the lesson set permanently inside me like a bone healing out of place." In addition to chronicling her adventures on the river, she examines, with varying levels of insight, family relationships, intimate relations, professional achievements and setbacks, and, more recently, her deeply felt loss after her mother's death. Though the book contains passages of vivid storytelling, both on and off the river, the narrative is overly angst-driven and heavy-handed--more leavening humor from this talented comedy writer would have been welcome--and her many underlying issues ultimately feel unsettled. An uneven exploration of family bonds and the pursuit of identity and self-esteem.

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October 23, 2020

In her hilarious and heartbreaking memoir, stand-up comedian and writer Schaefer tells the story of growing up while intermixing chapters that detail a Grand Canyon rafting trip she took with her sister to celebrate the author's 40th birthday. Although she traveled with all her siblings, this trip into the great wide open Arizona desert sparked a journey that resulted in revisiting painful episodes in her life. Schaefer juxtaposes descriptions about barreling headfirst into dangerous rapids with chapters about how her father's confession that he had misused his clients' funds upended the entire family--a deft storytelling choice. Schaefer also shares relatable childhood experiences: insecurity when the girl she thought was her best friend accepts a friendship locket from someone else, the embarrassment of a bad haircut. With humor and humility, Schaefer takes readers into her adulthood, as she dealt with anxiety and depression and walked away from a marriage. Her prose is accessible and immediate, and her audience will eagerly follow along. VERDICT A perfect read for those who enjoyed Michelle Buteau's Survival of the Thickest and Amy Poehler's Yes, Please.--Traci Glass, Mesa, AZ

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