Memoir

“ ‘But, do you know what I am the most proud of?” I shake my head. “Throughout my life I loved to help people, and whatever I did to them they poured back to me. And I can always remember those who were so poor, but still reached out to give me clothes, advice, money, lodging…anything. This pureness of humanity is so important, so powerful. This is how you truly measure success.” ’


All in all, a memoir wouldn’t be a memoir without a great story; which is why this one appeals the most to me. Of course we could pick any other piece of writing and glorify it due to all of the diction, and awesome writing style, but honestly, it isn’t worth the read if it’s not communicating anything. The whole point of writing is to correspond a certain aspect, and hope that aspect reaches the reader; but, if it doesn’t bring anything of intellectual substance or new perspective, it’s just beautiful jargon. The author of this memoir, Emily W., incorporates not only an interesting writing technique, but a great plot; successfully defining the very purpose of a memoir in itself. She has the storytelling down pat, along with the realistic dialogue that adds to the aura of the story. While reading I actually took something away from it, which unfortunately I cannot say about most of the stuff I read. I mean, I read lots of works and completely like them, but that’s all, nothing more; but with this memoir I felt as if I was learning alongside the writer… and it was amazing. She also “shows and not tells” very well, manipulating a range of vocabulary which I find to be perfectly acceptable.