Sign in with Facebook
Loading...
10th out of 18 books
—
8 voters
Without a Map
Meredith Hall's moving but unsentimental memoir begins in 1965, when she becomes pregnant at sixteen. Shunned by her insular New Hampshire community, she is then kicked out of the house by her mother. Her father and stepmother reluctantly take her in, hiding her before they finally banish her altogether. After giving her baby up for adoption, Hall wanders recklessly throug...more
Hardcover, 248 pages
Published
April 1st 2007
by Beacon Press
Friend Reviews
To see what your friends thought of this book,
please sign up.
Community Reviews
(showing
1-30
of
2,732)
"I didn’t make this plan. I just wake up sometimes and want to crawl out of my life” (60).
After getting expelled from high school in Hampton, NH in 1965 when it is discovered that she is 5-months pregnant,
Meredith finds herself very alone in the world. Shunned by the community that she once was a part of-even by her friends & and family including her own mother.
She was sent to live with her father and her step-mother during her pregnancy in Epping, NH; both traveled for work and she was kept...more
After getting expelled from high school in Hampton, NH in 1965 when it is discovered that she is 5-months pregnant,
Meredith finds herself very alone in the world. Shunned by the community that she once was a part of-even by her friends & and family including her own mother.
She was sent to live with her father and her step-mother during her pregnancy in Epping, NH; both traveled for work and she was kept...more
I can hardly conceive of the guts it took to write this book. Meredith Hall was a pregnant 16-year-old in small-town America in the early 1960s. In calm, measured, almost lyrical writing that makes the effect all the more harrowing, she describes her shunning and ostracizing by her friends, her town, and her own parents, who force her to give the child up for adoption. Devastated, she wanders America, Europe, and the Middle East, in an almost trance-like state of isolation. And the reader is dev...more
Jul 30, 2007
Lauren Kaskey
rated it
5 of 5 stars
Recommends it for:
Everyone, especially women
Shelves:
beaconbooks,
all-timefavorites
Disclaimer: I work at Beacon Press.
BUT, this was one of those books that I couldn't put down, when I see an excerpt in a magazine or even at work I just get drawn in immediately. I'll find myself rereading passages for the eighth time just because I happen to read a full sentence. Meredith Hall is a phenomenal writer, she writes with a passion fitting to this story. The story is her own, she got pregnant at age 16 and was ostracized from her community--her mother kicked her out of her house, her...more
BUT, this was one of those books that I couldn't put down, when I see an excerpt in a magazine or even at work I just get drawn in immediately. I'll find myself rereading passages for the eighth time just because I happen to read a full sentence. Meredith Hall is a phenomenal writer, she writes with a passion fitting to this story. The story is her own, she got pregnant at age 16 and was ostracized from her community--her mother kicked her out of her house, her...more
I feel very conflicted about this book! On the one hand, it was fascinating to me, since my mom shares a similar story---pregnant at 16 in the early 1960s. On the other hand, my mom was not expelled from school or disowned by her parents, she married the guy, raised my sister, ended up getting a doctorate, and is generally very happy and successful. The fact that Hall assumes that all girls who got pregnant at 16 in the 60s had the same experience as she did---a heartbreaking one---is somewhat d...more
Hall, as a young girl, begins her story with the unmet expectations, confusion, and disappointment when her beloved father and mother divorce. Later she finds herself victimized by a community who shuns her when she becomes pregnant at the age of sixteen. Her mother shuffles her off to her father, who lives in another town. The pregnancy is hidden, and Hall is made to give the baby up for adoption.
Hall's victim hood and unmet expectations grow to dominate her early adult life. She lives a life...more
I have mixed feelings about this memoir-Hall is a undoubtedly a very gifted writer. But there were so many holes- relationships never fully explained- at least to my satisfaction. And the whole wandering alone from Luxembourg to Syria, selling her clothes along the way? Hmmm... But the reunion of mother and son was precious- this read utterly real to me.
I will admit that I really struggled to believe that an entire community would shun a 16yr old pregnant girl in 1966 and that this shunning wou...more
I will admit that I really struggled to believe that an entire community would shun a 16yr old pregnant girl in 1966 and that this shunning wou...more
I’m a fiction reader. I only read nonfiction if I somehow feel that it is an assignment. Maybe it’s the book we’re discussing in one of my book clubs, or maybe a friend passes it on to me and says that I must read it. But I just really can’t recall a nonfiction book that I read simply for pleasure. Not that they didn’t turn out to BE pleasurable. I just don’t reach for one when the choosing is totally left up to me. This is the 4th memoir I’ve read in the past year and it’s one that had I known...more
I never give 5's. Some of my favorite books of all time I've rated 4. Out of the 560+ books I have only a handful I've rated 5. This is one of them. This book is one of the most moving, heart-wrenching, beautifully written, evocative books I've ever read. I had tears in my eyes through the whole thing. It's not like this is the most tragic story ever told. Not at all. It's the memoir of a woman who got pregnant at 16 and gave the baby up for adoption. Sad, yes, but nothing too unique. And honest...more
Well-written, but there was a lot of redundancy in the book. I think the chapters on her traveling and walking, bra-less, sock-less, basically in a sac from country to country were actually quite long and drawn out. It seemed like she had several moments of revelation--a sudden will to live and then she goes back to traveling and is struck by another sudden will to live. The stream of consciousness is a bit off-putting, but her ending gives you a sense of greater purpose and compassion. I am mos...more
Meredith Hall writes beautifully, and her story is stunning, heartbreaking, and inspiring.
April '09--I'm rereading this memoir in preparation for attending a reading by the author next week, and it's at least as good the second time around.
April 25th--I finished rereading the book about 15 minutes before leaving to hear Meredith Hall speak...I was stirring dinner on the stove with one hand, holding the book in the other, and crying my eyes out. That was the emotional state in which I arrived at...more
April '09--I'm rereading this memoir in preparation for attending a reading by the author next week, and it's at least as good the second time around.
April 25th--I finished rereading the book about 15 minutes before leaving to hear Meredith Hall speak...I was stirring dinner on the stove with one hand, holding the book in the other, and crying my eyes out. That was the emotional state in which I arrived at...more
**Disclaimer: This review is unabashedly biased, because Meredith was my favorite professor in University... but speaking as objectively as I can, this story is at once beautiful and tragic, a book I would recommend to anyone for both its writing and its story.**
Meredith's undeniable writing talent makes her sad, sad story readable, even beautiful. Though I admit the heaviness of the story, the tradegy of her life made reading slower than I anticipated - I needed to take a break every once in a...more
Meredith's undeniable writing talent makes her sad, sad story readable, even beautiful. Though I admit the heaviness of the story, the tradegy of her life made reading slower than I anticipated - I needed to take a break every once in a...more
I would give Without A Map by Meredith Hall a 3 1/2 out of 5 star rating.
After Meredy gets pregnant she is banned from her school, town, home, and everything she’d ever known. She struggles to live with her father until the baby is born. As soon as she has her baby she gets lost in the world not knowing where to go and who with.
I see Meredy telling her story and she just wants to show people that she got through life. She tells you everything to the most complete detail about what she was fee...more
After Meredy gets pregnant she is banned from her school, town, home, and everything she’d ever known. She struggles to live with her father until the baby is born. As soon as she has her baby she gets lost in the world not knowing where to go and who with.
I see Meredy telling her story and she just wants to show people that she got through life. She tells you everything to the most complete detail about what she was fee...more
This is a deep, insightful and poignant memoir. Meredith Hall candidly looks back at her adolescence, the painful time that shaped her young adulthood and created a sense of deep existential angst, alienaton from society, and the inability to form intimate relationships with others.
At 16 years of age, Ms. Hall had a child which she gave up for adoption. At the same time, she was no longer permitted to live with her mother and had to move to her father's home where she endured the cold judgment o...more
At 16 years of age, Ms. Hall had a child which she gave up for adoption. At the same time, she was no longer permitted to live with her mother and had to move to her father's home where she endured the cold judgment o...more
I really wanted to like this book, because the writing is elegant, beautiful, and haunting. But I feel that Hall just didn't quite communicate clearly enough, and thus, her "traumas" didn't read as all that traumatic to me.
For example, she says that her father's second wife precipitated the break between Hall and her father, and she mourns this break for the rest of her life, but frankly, I didn't quite get why they never connected again and was never quite clear on why her brother and sister s...more
For example, she says that her father's second wife precipitated the break between Hall and her father, and she mourns this break for the rest of her life, but frankly, I didn't quite get why they never connected again and was never quite clear on why her brother and sister s...more
I’m not sure what to think of ‘Without a Map’. I read it with interest and tried to like the character. There was so much prosaic reflection that I swam through it easily but I didn’t leave with much. I liked the burst of narratie that held together her philosophical reflections. While beautiful, they felt elementary compared to the depth of her experience. The story of a young girl who gets pregnant and is torn apart from her baby, her parent’s love, and her sense of self. The ensuing chapters...more
Well. This was a fantastic book. As in, I really couldn't do much to force myself to put this down. I think the fact that I read this in one day tells a lot about how addicted to this book I was; I even worked 8 hours that day, too. . . . I'm slightly embarrassed since I inhaled the book, but it was completely worth it. Hall's book was heartbreaking a lot of the time. Reading about her struggles with her family and with herself was heart-wrenching and had me rooting for her every step of the way...more
I debated between 3 and 4 stars ...
I thought the book was really good - it grabbed me right away. Her story was compelling and thought provoking. I kept wondering what would my parents have done? What would I do if my daughter presented me with the same situation? Impossible to answer when you aren't in the same place.
One thing I kept thinking about is how our society has changed. The author was shunned in 1965 - in 2010, we can watch "16 and Pregnant" on MTV. As the parent of a 14 year old gi...more
I thought the book was really good - it grabbed me right away. Her story was compelling and thought provoking. I kept wondering what would my parents have done? What would I do if my daughter presented me with the same situation? Impossible to answer when you aren't in the same place.
One thing I kept thinking about is how our society has changed. The author was shunned in 1965 - in 2010, we can watch "16 and Pregnant" on MTV. As the parent of a 14 year old gi...more
I'm with the other readers who say this lacked resolution in too many places. It's almost like she was holding back certain pieces on purpose, or like she wrote based on journals and lapsed on her writing during certain years. Some of the writing was quite lovely - I really enjoyed the parts about her travels through Europe. As important as she seems to want to make her child's life in her travels, it seems somewhat as an afterthought in many passages. This might have worked out better as a seri...more
This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it,
click here.
Wow, what a powerful and moving story of a young woman's experience in the mid-sixties. Think your childhood was rough? How about getting tossed out of your home and permanently shunned by family and community for getting pregnant in high school.
Granted, not the best life plan overall, but a harshly devastating injustice in how it's dealt with. And sadly not an uncommon reaction in it's time. Seems like an archaic concept today, but this snapshot into that era is a reminder we've made some prog...more
Granted, not the best life plan overall, but a harshly devastating injustice in how it's dealt with. And sadly not an uncommon reaction in it's time. Seems like an archaic concept today, but this snapshot into that era is a reminder we've made some prog...more
This is an incredibly moving memoir. Full of honesty and unguarded revelation of Hall's life from the time she was a 16 year old girl, pregnant with a child she is forced to give up to adoption, and cast out of her family, friendships, school, and church.
At times I found myself wondering how she survived, let alone came to be able to recall and record the events of her life.
It is stunningly written and should not be overlooked.
Quotes:
"You see today that every creation of God is made in perfec...more
At times I found myself wondering how she survived, let alone came to be able to recall and record the events of her life.
It is stunningly written and should not be overlooked.
Quotes:
"You see today that every creation of God is made in perfec...more
Excellent memoir. Hall is a gifted writer able to bring the reader into her heart and mind as she describes struggling through a heart-breaking time in her life and hoe the ripple affect of this painful family betrayal reverberated through her life until she came to a point of being able to forgive her parents for withdrawing their love from her at 16 when she became pregnant in the mid-60's. Hall looks deeply into her own responsibility for claiming and choosing the life she has had, and with h...more
This was a tough one to read. At first, the treatment of a young 16 year old girl who is pregnant in 1965 seemed like a familiar story. But then the treatment and abandonment of this young scared teen was hard to believe. She had been an A+ student in school, well thought of in her small community. She had attended school with the same 24 boys and girls for years. And yet, once her pregnancy was discovered; she was shunned. Shunned by the entire community and even worse shunned and sent away by...more
p. 138 (hardcover) "Well, she can't live here. So abrupt, the end of having a mother. Within a few years, my mother and I will seem close again. I love her. But she will never again be my mother. Love and its failure."
While I did enjoy reading the book up to that point, this passage really connected me to the story. My life trajectory has been very different from Meredith's in so many ways - nearly the antithesis of hers, in a sense. But I connected my life experience to hers in this small passa...more
While I did enjoy reading the book up to that point, this passage really connected me to the story. My life trajectory has been very different from Meredith's in so many ways - nearly the antithesis of hers, in a sense. But I connected my life experience to hers in this small passa...more
Arrgh..another book that I'm conflicted about...can't say this year has gotten off to a stellar reading start. Per the back of the book (which makes this not be a spoiler, yes?) "in 1965, in a small New Hampshire town, sixteen year old Meredith Hall got pregnant and was consequently kicked out of her school, home, church and community. Hall's mother sent her to live with her father and stepmother who confined her to the house. Days after giving birth (her baby was put up for adoption) she was se...more
This memoir is so beautifully written and so haunting. It recounts the author's experience of becoming pregnant at 16 in the 1960's and thereafter being exhiled by everyone she loved and counted on. She gives her baby up for adoption, never laying eyes on him until he finds her when he is a young adult. Through all those years following her baby's birth and adoption, she wanders through life, longing for the child she has given up, as well as for her parents who turned their backs on her and now...more
This "memoir" began with a well-written, heartbreaking story of a 16-year-old rejected by both parents when she became pregnant in 1965. Now an abandoned child herself, who is forced to abandon her baby, we follow her as she spirals into severe depression and acts out in ever escalating risky behavior over several years. From here, the "memoir" goes downhill because it becomes disjointed. If you look at the author's publishing history, you can see this is a collection of short stories, not a "me...more
I have stopped waiting for him to say to me , Yes,yes I love you, no matter what I said and did , I meant no harm . Instead , as we sit in the darkening car , I hear him say , " I am so glad you understand everything ." His final cry , Love me .
pg.101
" Meredy " , at the age of 16 finds herself pregnant, shunned and cast out of her home town , her childhood home , and her friend's and family's lives . Forced to feel an overwhelming amount of shame for her actions , she is hid from the world an...more
pg.101
" Meredy " , at the age of 16 finds herself pregnant, shunned and cast out of her home town , her childhood home , and her friend's and family's lives . Forced to feel an overwhelming amount of shame for her actions , she is hid from the world an...more
This is the true autobiographical story of a woman who was shunned by her community and family when she became pregnant at 16 in 1965. It follows her life and her struggle to be accepted again by her family and find a place for herself in the world. She was forced to leave the baby at the hospital not knowing if he would have a good life- but at the same time wondering if she could have a good life herself.
I wasn't sure if now was the best time to read this- I have been far more emotional this p...more
I wasn't sure if now was the best time to read this- I have been far more emotional this p...more
This book had the unfortunate distinction of following the Harry Potter series for me, so there was a strike against it before I had even read the first page.
The second strike came when I realized circa page 30 that Hall was going to tell this story with a strange mixture of detachment and calm acceptance. Call me silly, but I expected a bit more emotion from someone who was shunned by her parents at 16 and left to meander through life until she was finally able to come to terms with what had ha...more
The second strike came when I realized circa page 30 that Hall was going to tell this story with a strange mixture of detachment and calm acceptance. Call me silly, but I expected a bit more emotion from someone who was shunned by her parents at 16 and left to meander through life until she was finally able to come to terms with what had ha...more
| topics | posts | views | last activity | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Without a Map in People Magazine | 3 | 32 | Apr 24, 2008 10:05pm |
Biography
At the age of forty-four, Meredith Hall graduated from Bowdoin College. She wrote her first essay, “Killing Chickens,”� in 2002. Two years later, she won the $50,000 Gift of Freedom Award from A Room of Her Own Foundation, which gave her the financial freedom to devote time to Without a Map, her first book. Her other honors include a Pushcart Prize and notable essay recognition in Best Am...more
Share This Book
No trivia or quizzes yet. Add some now »
“The past lies beneath the surface, intransigent truth. Remembered or not, what we say and do remains, always.”
—
10 people liked it
“I have lived this life, and no matter what others may decide about it, I must claim each decision as mine. I have caused harm, failed in the expectations and obligations of love. I have loved well. What I do each day is carried within me until I die. ”
—
8 people liked it
More quotes…
Oct 29, 2011 03:41pm