FBI Girl

by Maura Conlon-McIvor

book is written from a young's girl's perspective. Her Dad is with the FBI and she is totally awed. She attends a Catholic school and has been awarded the most shy female student.

Genres: Nonfiction, Memoir, Adult, Biography Memoir

Paperback

First published January 1, 2004

Reviews

[fleegan · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a memoir. And it was very good. It's about this girl who grows up in California with her family in the '60s and '70s and her dad is an FBI agent. She loves her dad. Her dad though, seems a little weird to me. He rarely talks. I dunno. She would ask him a question and he wouldn't acknowledge her. She was all, "Well, that's my dad. I knew he was talking to me in code." and I'm thinking, "No honey, he's just an asshole."

The girl reminds me of me. She was all into Nancy Drew and baseball and she would spy on people. Of course, for me it was Hardy Boys all the way.

[Melinda Griffith · Rating 5 out of 5]

I seldom give 5 stars. My friend, Maura, wrote her heart and her memories while pulling our emotions along with her in ways that had me smiling, laughing, but also weeping as I felt for the struggle we have to make sense of life within the family in which we find ourselves.

Thank you, Maura

[Gemma Whelan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Maura Conlon-McIvor’s FBI Girl is a coming of age story, full of sorrow but also full of joy. I appreciated the complexity with which the author conjures up the Irish and Irish Catholic situations, from Sunday Mass to visiting relatives in New York, to the strictness of Catholic school. I’m very familiar with strong, silent Irish fathers, and love that Maura understood the depth of her father’s love, even though he was unable to communicate it most of the time. I really liked the shift from the early younger Maura and her dogged efforts to crack her father’s code, to the smart teenager who sees her parents through the loving but savvy lens of a young adult.
Joey, her Downs Syndrome brother is portrayed sensitively and beautifully. The family’s unconditional love and appreciation of him, is deeply moving, and it really is believable that in some way he saved the family.
This is a deeply felt memoir, so poignant and specific, that we happily walk every step of the journey with the author, eager to know how her life turns out.

[Mahlia · Rating 2 out of 5]

Marketed as a look into the world of the daughter of an FBI agent who struggled to communicate with his family and separate himself from the job, it was instead an overwhelmingly disappointing pivot in another direction entirely. Simply the authors slog down memory lane written in the style and prose of her corresponding age at the time of her experiences, there was altogether little of the promised topics and more “childhood revelations” of love, longing, and misunderstanding the real world. About the only interesting thing was seeing the way in which the world and her family grew in their love and understanding of her brother with Down Syndrome. Other than that a wholeheartedly worthless read.

[Kristin Gregozeski · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read this with my daughter and we both enjoyed it a lot. I also liked how much my daughter learned about growing up now verse when the author was a child. It was a fun book to discuss with her while she was reading it.

[Angela · Rating 1 out of 5]

This should be sold as a children’s book.

[Haley Busniewski · Rating 4 out of 5]

Interesting perspective of a quiet girl with an even quieter father. Moments of excellent writing and a few that didn't quite land with me.

[pdxmaven · Rating 4 out of 5]

from the cover: “Believing that he [her father] communicates in code, Maura is determined to crack it. She uses clues she gleaned from Nancy Drew mysteries, eavesdrops on adult conversations, and spins larger-than-life fantasies in her head…” Re-read 2/2025.

from 2/2025: Didn’t realize this author lives in Portland now, had gotten a PhD in Depth Psychology. I especially appreciated her conveyance of her secret quest to break her father’s FBI “code” with (she imagines) personal directives from J. Edgar Hoover—reminds me of the This American Life story of the girl who thought she had discovered that her friend’s father was The Tooth Fairy. Also liked the pictures accompanying each chapter. And her award, at the end of 8th grade, winning the award for Most Quiet Girl.

[Michelle · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book was the beginning of my enjoyment of non-fiction reading. It reads like an eloquent novel. It tells the story of a family -- a girl growing up and coming to understand her parents' relationship, her extended family and the joy of having a Downs Syndrome sibling. Maybe I enjoyed this book so much because I am similar in age to the author and I recongnized a lot of the cultural icons she writes about. The detail is vivid and the people interesting and complicated ... and best of all -- real!

[James Carmichael · Rating 3 out of 5]

Charming, warm, witty memoir of growing up in the late 1960s with an uncommunicative father who works for the FBI, a Down Syndrome brother, and a mother holding the family together. That probably sounds like the setup for a memoir, but the whole thing is really carried by Conlon-McIvor's very straightforward but graceful writing and the depth of feeling she consistently conveys: her own for her family members, her mother for herself and her siblings, and even her buttoned up father.

[Jennifer · Rating 4 out of 5]

Maura's memoir is an easy read and even if you can't relate to the specific challenges she and her family encounter you can't help but relate to some of the underlying issues the family experiences along the way. It's a story about discovering yourself, loving your family through the ups and downs and learning, as you grow, that your parents are just real people too.

[Kaitlin · Rating 5 out of 5]

It was really good!! I had to read this for English for a choice novel and it had to be nonfiction. So I chose this book. It taught me about love, the character learns to love her little brother that has Down Syndrome then most of all she learned how to love her father more. Very good!!!!! My kind of nonfiction!!!

[Tasha · Rating 4 out of 5]

I enjoyed this book very much.has Story of Daughter of an FBI agent. The difficulties growing up with a father that barely communicates with his family. A touching tale of their family through a shy girl who loves them, loves her down's syndrome brother, admires her mother's strengths, and adores her father and tries to decode his silence.

[Lori · Rating 3 out of 5]

To me the description on the book made it sound much more exciting than it really was. I was looking for a murder at the beginning of the book and more excitement. But, beyond that, it was a good memoir. The author's writing was very descriptive and I loved hearing about the her life growing up. Just change the book cover to accurately describe the book. Good book! Bad cover description!

[Emily · Rating 2 out of 5]

Apparently I'm in the minority here. To me, this book sounded more interesting than it turned out to be. The writing was beautiful but that was the book's only saving grace (in my humble opinion). The journey we take with the protagonist just didn't feel like much of a journey at all. Not recommended by me, but obviously it's very popular with others.

[Gwennie · Rating 5 out of 5]

A beautiful, poignant love story...about a family, and a father and daughter's love for one another, which they both find difficult to express, and so they do in code. I cried.

[Marie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Funny, quirky memoir of a girl growing up in the 60s/70s as the daugher of an FBI agent and the sister of a Down's syndrome boy.

[Julie Bennett · Rating 3 out of 5]

It's your basic coming of age story with a little J. Edgar Hoover tossed in. Quick, fun read.

[Sue · Rating 1 out of 5]

I just could not get past the first few pages, maybe I'll try again another day.

[Wendy · Rating 3 out of 5]

this was a sweet memoir and interesting story
well written

[Karen · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting at times, not so at others. Even so , well written.

[Liz · Rating 2 out of 5]

Just OK. Seemed like a nice trip down memory lane

[Katherine · Rating 3 out of 5]

Conlon-McIvor's memoir shares stories of growing up as the daughter of a reticent, mysterious FBI agent.

[Jessie · Rating 3 out of 5]

Probably 3.5 stars. It was ok, not an amazing book. Really focused on her family's relationship while she was an awkward teenager and how her down syndrome brother affected the family.

[Quirky Shauna · Rating 2 out of 5]

The fresh child point of view quickly became annoying.

[Matangi · Rating 2 out of 5]

Thought this was going to be cool, but it was just her life story and had nothing to do with her dad’s fbi career. Couldn’t finish it.

[Bob]

A wonderful family memoir, with luminous portraits of middle-class Irish Catholics, a brother with Downs Syndrome, and a silent authoritarian father.