Family Trouble

August 19, 2013
This collection of essays, edited by memoirist Castro (Island of Bones), shares the ruminations of 25 memoirists (including Robin Hemley, Dinty W. Moore, and Mimi Schwartz) on the troubles, strategies, and results of writing about family, and how to deal with the ensuing consequences for family relationships. Most of the contributors understand the lack of easy answers when writing about family, and simply share their experiences, successes, and failures. Though the collection contains the occasional “we write because we must” cliché, the book’s standouts include Ariel Gore’s “The Part I Can’t Tell You,” in which she talks about the difficulty of choosing how to tell stories as she slowly releases information about her stepfather’s death. Another highlight is Alison Bechdel’s “What the Little Old Ladies Feel,” which succinctly and bluntly sums up the impossibility of baring a person’s secrets without hurting them. Meanwhile, Richard Hoffman’s “Like Rain on Dust” both acknowledges issues relating to writing and family while firmly arguing for the need for some stories to be told in public. The collection may hold the general reader’s interest only as a curiosity, but for any writer of memoirs, it’s a must-read.

August 15, 2013
A chorus of noteworthy memoirists reflects on the ethical consequences of airing dirty laundry. "With family stories, the stakes are always high," writes Castro (English and Ethnic Studies/Univ. of Nebraska; Island of Bones, 2012, etc.), who published her harrowing experiences as the abused child of fundamentalist parents. Naturally, she has firsthand knowledge of the memoirist's internal struggle: a personal obligation to convey an honest narrative while straddling the thin line between authenticity and oversharing. This conundrum of writing within the "self-disclosing genre of our reality-hungry era" is pondered throughout 25 reflective essays from a wide-ranging group of writers. The four-part collection opens with essays personifying the ethical boundaries authors like emergency room physician Paul Austin must skirt when divulging a life working in a high-pressure environment while raising a disabled child. Novelist Paul Lisicky discusses the fragile "line between life and art" after his published remembrances became surprisingly offensive to his aunt, a reaction similar to that of gay memoirist Rigoberto Gonzalez's grandparents to his poignant, revelatory autobiography. Wrestling with artistic integrity, despite the pain caused to others, is also a theme running through the collection, along with the expected preponderance of the matriarchal mother figure. Several authors who share their experiences are also creative writing instructors, and they offer advice on crafting an effective, epiphanic memoir. All of the entries deserve attention, though some are disappointingly brief, while others excessively agonize over unresolved emotional baggage. "Such is the calamity of authorship and authenticity in revealing secrets," writes Allison Hedge Coke of her process in exorcising personal demons onto the printed page. Other contributors include Ariel Gore, Alison Bechdel and Dinty W. Moore. A well-balanced panoply of family-centric musings from authors conflicted between responsibility and retribution.

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