2018 Reading Challenge- Read a book about real events.

I obsessively read this over the course of 24 hours. It was enthralling and beautifully written (if such a horrible event can be even attached to the word 'beautiful'). This tells the true story of Sarah Perry, who finds her mother murdered in their home, and her life long search for truth and justice. It's a horrible story and worse than anything I could ever have to imagine. But it also tells the story of finding hope and kindness in the worst of experiences. So it really isn't all doom and gloom. Plus, it's a very interesting psychological look at how people deal with trauma, which was super intriguing and fascinating. Really well done all around.

I feel weird reviewing and rating memoirs because they are such subjective, personal pieces of work. However, this one was written so beautifully I happily give it 5 heartbreaking, overwhelming, beautiful stars. The writing in this book was just gorgeous, it felt like literary fiction at times.

Sarah Perry was only 12 years old living in small town Maine when she heard her mother, Crystal, being murdered in the other room. She was raped then stabbed more than 50 times. This book follows her story “before” and “after” the murder as she describes her close relationship to her mother and how deeply she felt the loss. She was shuffled around from relative to relative after the murder, many of them yelling at her for not knowing who killed her mom.

It would take 12 years for them to finally find her mother’s murderer. The person who took away the living, breathing, flawed, and wonderful person Sarah described her mother as. This memoir will remind you that murders aren’t statistics and true crime isn’t for entertainment but that there is a family behind that murder that is broken.

This book was very heavy and sometimes depressing to read. I wouldn’t recommend for the faint of heart. Perry also explores the general violence women face regularly from men and I would like to end this with a quote that has really stuck with me and will work as trigger warning for content.

“It is often simply easier to give men when they want. I once said yes to a man because I was positive that if I said no, he would rape me.”

A wonderful review from the NYT: https://www.nytimes.com/2017/10/26/books/review/after-the-eclipse-sarah-perry-memoir-tribute.html

Such an incredibly poignant book of a woman's lifelong search for understanding after her mother's gruesome murder. Truly well written and beautiful.

An intriguing cross between a memoir and a murder mystery, this was the story of a daughter’s search to understand her mother’s complicated life and tragic death when the author was only twelve. Through her own memories, family recollections, and official documents, Perry weaves an enthralling tale of the lengthy investigation leading to an eventual arrest of the killer over a decade later.

This book was so well written and "good" but also so sad and hard to read. I highly recommend but take on with caution.

Just superb! If you liked Educated and The Glass Castle, you will love this one, too!