Growing Up Moffett: The Rise and Fall of Innocence in a Pathos Plagued Year

by Sarah E. Moffett

book data

6 ratings, 4.33 average rating, 4 reviews (more data...)

rating	frequency	%
5		50%
4		33%
3		16%
2		0%
1		0%

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published

2007 by FaithWalk Publishing

binding

Paperback, 224 pages

isbn

1932902651 (isbn13: 9781932902655)

description

A Gen-Y, coming of age memoir about a family encountering and overcoming tragedy through the eyes of their precocious and witty 12-year-old daughter. ...more

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other reviews (showing 1-14 of 14)

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10/09/07

Jason Pettus rated it:

Read in October, 2007

(The much longer full review can be found at the Chicago Center for Literature and Photography [cclapcenter.com].)

As anyone who has tried it before can attest, the writing of a creative personal memoir can be a much trickier thing than it might seem at first; that even though it's true that most of us have at least one fascinating story from our real pasts, there's a wide gulf between that and a finished book the general public will find entertaining. There is the uniqueness of the s...more (The much longer full review can be found at the Chicago Center for Literature and Photography [cclapcenter.com].)

As anyone who has tried it before can attest, the writing of a creative personal memoir can be a much trickier thing than it might seem at first; that even though it's true that most of us have at least one fascinating story from our real pasts, there's a wide gulf between that and a finished book the general public will find entertaining. There is the uniqueness of the story to consider; there is what the person learned about life from the experience, and what insights they have to share with others. There is the issue of real people turned into literary characters, a process that does not necessarily produce great results every time; and then there's the writing skills of the memoirist themselves, and of whether they understand the proper points of their life story in which to start and finish their manuscript. As thousands have remarked on separate occasions now over the centuries, there's a difference between a captivating real story and a captivating book, with one of these not necessarily equalling the other.

And thus do we arrive at the awkwardly titled but still compelling Growing Up Moffett: The Rise and Fall of Innocence In a Pathos-Plagued Year, by an attorney in the Washington DC area named Sarah Moffett; it is basically a look at a particularly craptastic year from Moffett's childhood, where in a single twelve-month period she lost three close family members (grandmother, grandfather and uncle) to cancer, which she then uses in the book as a springboard into more general thoughts concerning childhood, loss, family, and her strict Christian faith. (In fact, this is an important thing to understand before picking the book up in the first place -- that it is published by a Christian-based small press, and that the book has a specific pro-Christian message.) And indeed, faith-based philosophical opinions about life aside, the heart of the book is a sincerely page-flipping tale of grief, the coping process, and the power of family to get past it all; but unfortunately, like many other such memoirs from beginning writers, Moffett has difficulty determining where to begin and end her story, subjecting us instead to a bevy of unilluminating and superfluous thoughts concerning EveryFamily USA, thoughts that will be of little interest to anyone outside of Moffett's own family and friends. It's an intriguing book, a read I'm glad I made, solidly written if nothing outstanding; unfortunately, though, it's about twice as long as it should be, with a first half that could literally be lopped off without missing a single story element of note.

As with many memoirs, the best place to start...(less)

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08/31/07

Bethany Andrews rated it:

bookshelves: bookofthemomentreviews, favorites, memoir, nonfiction

Read in July, 2007

I adored this book. From the first page through until the last, I was completely taken by the words I read. I laughed out loud several times (and earned strange looks from those around me) and I even cried. I couldn't put the book down, but I wanted to...only because I wanted the experience of reading it to last longer. Yep, that good.

The story is told from the perspective of a young girl growing up in a family filled with closeness, happiness and trust. It's full of anecdotes a...more

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08/22/08

Erin rated it:

This book was actually written by Greg's cousin. It tells the story of a period in their family's life when they lost her grandpa, grandma and uncle. It was really neat for me to be able to learn more about their family, and Sarah is an extremely talented writer too!

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