I am always especially grateful when writers give me insight into the writing that I myself am trying to do. So, I’d like to give a special shout out to Mary Otis, whose novel BURST, I have just finished reading. BURST tells a moving braided tale in alternating points of view of a mother and daughter — both deeply artistic, troubled, alcoholic, and surprisingly resilient. Reading her book somehow opened the door for me to write a bit more about my own mother and her complex relationship to her parents, who were not who they claimed to be.
You can read my latest thoughts about me and my fraudulent family “history”: here.
We seem to be surrounded these days by fraudulent people spewing fraudulent claims about the matters of the day. Thank goodness for books that make us think about the strange world we are living in.
If you are looking for a nonfiction book that makes sense of all this strangeness, I invite you to check out Naomi Klein’s brilliant but accessible (and even entertaining) Doppelgaenger. It will convince you that no, you are not crazy, and it will make connections that will wow and even inspire you.
Happy reading!
Stephanie Barbé Hammer Writing (Un) Real 