Hello dear Readers,
Below, my book review of Pieces of my Mother. A Memoir, by Melissa Cistaro.
Title: Pieces of my Mother. A Memoir
Genre: Memoir
Author: Melissa Cistaro
Publisher: Sourcebooks (May 5, 2015)
Language: English
Hardcover: 320 pages
Book Description
This provocative, poignant memoir of a daughter whose mother left her behind by choice begs the question: Are we destined to make the same mistakes as our parents?
One summer, Melissa Cistaro's mother drove off without explanation Devastated, Melissa and her brothers were left to pick up the pieces, always tormented by the thought: Why did their mother abandon them?
Thirty-five years later, with children of her own, Melissa finds herself in Olympia, Washington, as her mother is dying. After decades of hiding her painful memories, she has just days to find out what happened that summer and confront the fear she could do the same to her kids. But Melissa never expects to stumble across a cache of letters her mother wrote to her but never sent, which could hold the answers she seeks.
Haunting yet ultimately uplifting, Pieces of My Mother chronicles one woman's quest to discover what drives a mother to walk away from the children she loves. Alternating between Melissa's tumultuous coming-of-age and her mother's final days, this captivating memoir reveals how our parents' choices impact our own and how we can survive those to forge our own paths.
My thoughts
*I gave 5/5 stars on Goodreads
Reading this book was a heartbreaking experience for me. It was really
sad. I never read a book like this before. When I read the description, I never
imagined it was going to be as painful as it was. I haven’t experienced the
same situation as Melissa, however, I live far away from my family, in another
country. There are situations that I haven’t solved or give the appropriate
closure. Situations that are hard to confront. There are times when I find myself
thinking: “what if something bad happens to any of them and I cannot be there
on time to say goodbye?”. In different ways, we all are constantly looking for
answers, especially to the hardest situations we go through in life.
I want to thank Melissa for writing such an honest book. I cannot
imagine how hard it was for her to open her heart and show us not only her
vulnerability, fears, insecurities, sadness, mistakes, self doubt and imperfections
but also those of her mother, grandmother, father and brothers, her entire
family. When a writer has the bravery to pour out her heart and show us who
he/she really is, it makes the story more believable. Credibility, especially
in Memoirs, is always well appreciate it. Melissa’s writing style is beautiful,
well executed. I think it is what holds the entire story together. She shows us
what happened and how hard it was to grow up without a mother and all her fears
on parenting her own children but also, a hope for a better future, that sense
of hope it was always present for me in the book.
Told from Melissa’s Point of View, Pieces of my Mother is the story of
Melissa and her mother. Going back and forth between the past, when Melissa’s
mother left the house, and what it was like for Melissa and her brothers to
grow up motherless, and the present, when Melissa’s mother is dying and she
goes to Olympia to stay with her in her last days, where Melissa finds a series
of letters her mother wrote throughout the years to her and her brothers but
never sent and how she hopes these letters would contain the answers to all the
questions she has had for so many years. The search for that something that
would give her some sort of closure.
This book gave me a sense of Self-Examination. It made me think what the
impact of having so much “unsaid” in
life can have on people around you, especially the ones you love. Family,
friends. It also helps us to understand that our situations in life may be
different but we all deal with the consequences of our decisions. We all face
doubt. We all at some point in our lives try to avoid the same mistakes our
parents or brothers made or are making. It teaches us that we always have to
try to understand why people do what they do or why the make the decisions they
make and not to judge them because at the end, there is always a story behind
the why’s. For some people is harder to open up about their lives and explain
why, like I feel is the case of Melissa’s mother but that doesn't make her a bad person. It makes her human.
Pieces of My Mother, a book that will be in my mind for more years to
come. All the lessons I learned that I
will keep in my heart. Forgiveness, love and learn from our mistakes.
Thank you NetGalley and Sourcebooks for sending the ARC copy, in exchange for an honest review.
My Favorite Quote
"When I think of Bella, I know it is no mistake that I have a daughter to teach me about the things I still need to learn."
Wendy
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