Saturday, October 9, 2010

Review - Ten Minutes From Home: A Memoir by Beth Greenfield


From Goodreads:

Ten Minutes from Home is the poignant account of how a suburban New Jersey family struggles to come together after being shattered by tragedy.

In this searing, sparely written, and surprisingly wry memoir, Beth Greenfield shares what happens in 1982 when, as a twelve-year-old, she survives a drunk-driving accident that kills her younger brother Adam and best friend Kristin. As the benign concerns of adolescence are re­placed by crushing guilt and grief, Beth searches for hope and support in some likely and not-so-likely places (General Hospital, a kindly rabbi, the bottom of a keg), eventually discovering that while life is fragile, love doesn’t have to be.

Ten Minutes from Home exquisitely captures both the heartache of lost innocence and the solace of strength and survival


My Thoughts:

Ten Minutes From Home is a well written memoir by Beth Greenfield, which tells the heartbreaking story of a car accident that takes the life of Beth's little brother Adam, and her best friend Kristen. In 1982, a drunk driver causes her family's accident. Beth chronicles her years after the accident, growing up in a home full of sadness and despair. She doesn't know how to deal with her grief, and becomes angry with her parents, especially her mother, because her mother outwardly expresses her sadness to anyone and everyone, which becomes an embarrassment to Beth.
Beth learns over the course of years how to deal with her grief and loss, with the help of school counselors and therapists. She and her parents grow close again.
Although I have never had to deal with this kind of loss personally, I felt Beth's pain....her sadness and guilt, and completely understood her actions as she grew into a teenager, acting out in order to receive her parents attention. This is a very good memoir, one I will remember for a long time.


Photobucket Very Good!

Hardcover, 288 pages
Published April 27th 2010 by Harmony (first published 2010)
ISBN
0307462056


1 comment:

Arielle said...

I love reading memoirs and this sounds like a good one!

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