"Memorial Drive" by Natasha Trethewey

Memorial Drive by Natasha Trethewey
Call Number: BIOGRAPHY TRETHEWEY
At nineteen, the author's world turned upside down when her former stepfather shot and killed her mother. Grieving and still new to adulthood, she confronted the twin pulls of life and death in the aftermath of unimaginable trauma. Here she explores the way this experience lastingly shaped the artist she became. Moving through her mother's history in the deeply segregated South and through her own girlhood as a 'child of miscegenation' in Mississippi, she plumbs her sense of dislocation and displacement in the lead-up to the harrowing crime that took place on Memorial Drive in Atlanta in 1985.

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How does Natasha Trethewey use the motif of "memory" throughout the memoir? How does memory shape identity, particularly in the context of trauma and loss?
In what ways does Trethewey explore the concept of "place" in her memoir, particularly the significance of Memorial Drive and her childhood home? How do physical spaces influence our memories and experiences?
Trethewey discusses her complex relationship with her mother throughout the memoir. How does she portray her mother's strengths and vulnerabilities? How does the exploration of this relationship contribute to the overall narrative?
Discuss the role of race and racial identity in "Memorial Drive." How does Trethewey navigate her biracial identity within the context of her upbringing in the American South?
Trethewey incorporates historical and cultural references throughout the memoir. How do these references contribute to the reader's understanding of the broader social and political context in which her story unfolds?
The memoir is structured around the traumatic event of her mother's murder. How does Trethewey employ narrative structure and storytelling techniques to convey the emotional weight of this event while also exploring themes of resilience and survival?
Trethewey grapples with the legacy of trauma and its impact on her life and relationships. How does she depict the process of healing and reconciliation in the aftermath of trauma?
Discuss the significance of language and storytelling in "Memorial Drive." How does Trethewey use language to convey emotion, evoke sensory experiences, and reflect on the complexities of memory and identity?
Trethewey reflects on her experiences through the lens of poetry and creative writing. How does her background as a poet influence the style and tone of the memoir?
In what ways does "Memorial Drive" contribute to larger conversations about grief, resilience, and the enduring legacy of trauma? How does Trethewey's personal story resonate with broader themes of loss and survival?

Early Life: Natasha Trethewey was born on April 26, 1966, in Gulfport, Mississippi, USA. She was the daughter of Eric Trethewey, a poet and professor of English, and Gwendolyn Ann Turnbough, a social worker. Her parents' interracial marriage was illegal at the time of her birth due to Mississippi's anti-miscegenation laws.

Education: Trethewey earned her Bachelor of Arts degree in English from the University of Georgia. She later pursued graduate studies at Hollins University, where she earned a Master of Arts in English and Creative Writing. She continued her education at the University of Massachusetts Amherst, where she received a Master of Fine Arts in Poetry.

Literary Career: Trethewey's literary career took off with the publication of her first poetry collection, "Domestic Work," in 2000, which was selected as the winner of the inaugural Cave Canem Poetry Prize. Her second collection, "Bellocq's Ophelia," published in 2002, was inspired by the photographs of E.J. Bellocq and received critical acclaim.

In 2007, Trethewey's third poetry collection, "Native Guard," won the Pulitzer Prize for Poetry. The collection explores the history of the Louisiana Native Guards, a black Civil War regiment, as well as Trethewey's personal history growing up in the South.

Trethewey served two terms as the 19th Poet Laureate of the United States, from 2012 to 2014. During her tenure, she focused on promoting poetry and expanding its reach to diverse audiences. She also used her platform to highlight the importance of history and memory in understanding contemporary issues.

In addition to her poetry, Trethewey has written a memoir titled "Memorial Drive," published in 2020. The memoir delves into her childhood in Mississippi and the trauma of her mother's murder by her stepfather when Trethewey was 19 years old.

Legacy: Throughout her career, Natasha Trethewey has been recognized for her lyrical and evocative poetry, as well as her insightful exploration of themes related to race, history, and personal identity. Her work continues to resonate with readers and critics alike, earning her numerous awards and honors.

Natasha Trethewey's contributions to American literature have cemented her place as one of the most important voices of her generation, and her work continues to inspire and provoke thought in readers around the world.

After the Eclipse by Sarah Perry
Call Number: 362.88 Perry
A fierce memoir of a mother's murder, a daughter's coming-of-age in the wake of immense loss, and her mission to know the woman who gave her life. When Sarah Perry was twelve, she saw a partial eclipse of the sun, an event she took as a sign of good fortune for her and her mother, Crystal. But that brief moment of darkness ultimately foreshadowed a much larger one: two days later, Crystal was murdered in their home in rural Maine, just a few feet from Sarah's bedroom. The killer escaped unseen; it would take the police twelve years to find him, time in which Sarah grew into adulthood, struggling with abandonment, police interrogations, and the effort of rebuilding her life when so much had been lost. Through it all she would dream of the eventual trial, a conviction--all her questions finally answered. But after the trial, Sarah's questions only grew. She wanted to understand her mother's life, not just her final hours, and so she began a personal investigation, one that drew her back to Maine, taking her deep into the abiding darkness of a small American town. Told in searing prose, After the Eclipse is a luminous memoir of uncomfortable truth and terrible beauty, an exquisite memorial for a mother stolen from her daughter, and a blazingly successful attempt to cast light on her life once more.
Somebody's Daughter by Ashley C. Ford
Call Number: BIOGRAPHY FORD
One of the most prominent voices of her generation debuts with an extraordinarily powerful memoir: the story of a childhood defined by the looming absence of her incarcerated father. Through poverty, adolescence, and a fraught relationship with her mother, Ashley C. Ford wishes she could turn to her father for hope and encouragement. There are just a few problems: he's in prison, and she doesn't know what he did to end up there. She doesn't know how to deal with the incessant worries that keep her up at night, or how to handle the changes in her body that draw unwanted attention from men. In her search for unconditional love, Ashley begins dating a boy her mother hates. When the relationship turns sour, he assaults her. Still reeling from the rape, which she keeps secret from her family, Ashley desperately searches for meaning in the chaos. Then, her grandmother reveals the truth about her father's incarceration . . . and Ashley's entire world is turned upside down. Somebody's Daughter steps into the world of growing up a poor Black girl in Indiana with a family fragmented by incarceration, exploring how isolating and complex such a childhood can be. As Ashley battles her body and her environment, she embarks on a powerful journey to find the threads between who she is and what she was born into, and the complicated familial love that often binds them.
Everything Is Fine by Vince Granata
Call Number: BIOGRAPHY Granata
Vince Granata remembers standing in front of his suburban home in Connecticut the day his mother and father returned from the hospital with his three new siblings in tow. He had just finished scrawling their names in red chalk on the driveway: Christopher, Timothy, and Elizabeth. Twenty-three years later, Vince was a thousand miles away when he received the news that would change his life--Tim, propelled by unchecked schizophrenia, had killed their mother in their childhood home. Devastated by the grief of losing his mother, Vince is also consumed by an act so incomprehensible that it overshadows every happy memory of life growing up in his seemingly idyllic middle-class family.
How to Say Babylon by Safiya Sinclair
Call Number: BIOGRAPHY SINCLAIR
How to Say Babylon is the stunning story of the author's struggle to break free of her rigid Rastafarian upbringing, ruled by her father's strict patriarchal views and repressive control of her childhood, to find her own voice as a woman and poet. Throughout her childhood, Safiya Sinclair's father, a volatile reggae musician and militant adherent to a strict sect of Rastafari, became obsessed with her purity, in particular, with the threat of what Rastas call Babylon, the immoral and corrupting influences of the Western world outside their home. He worried that womanhood would make Safiya and her sisters morally weak and impure, and believed a woman's highest virtue was her obedience. In an effort to keep Babylon outside the gate, he forbade almost everything. In place of pants, the women in her family were made to wear long skirts and dresses to cover their arms and legs, head wraps to cover their hair, no make-up, no jewelry, no opinions, no friends. Safiya's mother, while loyal to her father, nonetheless gave Safiya and her siblings the gift of books, including poetry, to which Safiya latched on for dear life. And as Safiya watched her mother struggle voicelessly for years under housework and the rigidity of her father's beliefs, she increasingly used her education as a sharp tool with which to find her voice and break free. Inevitably, with her rebellion comes clashes with her father, whose rage and paranoia explodes in increasing violence. As Safiya's voice grows, lyrically and poetically, a collision course is set between them. How to Say Babylon is Sinclair's reckoning with the culture that initially nourished but ultimately sought to silence her; it is her reckoning with patriarchy and tradition, and the legacy of colonialism in Jamaica. Rich in lyricism and language only a poet could evoke, How to Say Babylon is both a universal story of a woman finding her own power and a unique glimpse into a rarefied world we may know how to name, Rastafari, but one we know little about.
Educated by Tara Westover
Call Number: BIOGRAPHY WESTOVER
Tara Westover was seventeen the first time she set foot in a classroom. Born to survivalists in the mountains of Idaho, she prepared for the end of the world by stockpiling home-canned peaches and sleeping with her "head-for-the-hills bag." In the summer she stewed herbs for her mother, a midwife and healer, and in the winter she salvaged in her father's junkyard. The family was so isolated from mainstream society that there was no one to ensure the children received an education, and no one to intervene when one of Tara's older brothers became violent. As a way out, Tara began to educate herself, learning enough mathematics and grammar to be admitted to Brigham Young University. Her quest for knowledge would transform her, taking her over oceans and across continents, to Harvard and to Cambridge. Only then would she wonder if she'd traveled too far, if there was still a way home. With the acute insight that distinguishes all great writers, Tara Westover has crafted a universal coming-of-age story that gets to the heart of what an education offers: the perspective to see one's life through new eyes, and the will to change it.

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Islington Branch Book Club - Past Titles: "Memorial Drive" by Natasha Trethewey

"Memorial Drive" by Natasha Trethewey

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