I tried my hardest not to finish reading this book, just because I enjoyed the reading of it so much. This book is why I love reading. Gornick expressed things I've felt but never had words for. She delves into the complicated relationship with her mother and how the echoes of that impact her life. Her mother isn't my mother, but the intricate binds between mother and daughter are so clearly expressed here that I, immediately and viscerally, better understood my own connection to my mother, my past, and my future.