The Memory Sessions

by Suzanne Farrell Smith

Suzanne Farrell Smith’s father was killed by a drunk driver when she was six, and a devastating fire nearly destroyed her house when she was eight. She remembers those two—and only those two—events from her first nearly twelve years of life. While her three older sisters hold on to rich and rewarding memories of their father, Smith recalls nothing of him. Her entire childhood was, seemingly, erased. In The Memory Sessions , Smith attempts to excavate lost childhood memories. She puts herself through multiple therapies and exercises, including psychotherapy, hypnotherapy, somatic experiencing, and acupuncture. She digs for clues in her mother’s long-stored boxes. She creates—with objects, photographs, and captions—a physical timeline to compensate for the one that’s missing in her memory. She travels to San Diego, where her family vacationed with her father right before he died. She researches, interviews, and meditates, all while facing down the two traumatic memories that defined her early life. The result is an experimental memoir that upends our understanding of the genre. Rather than recount a childhood, The Memory Sessions attempts to create one from research, archives, imagination, and the memories of others. 

Published by Bucknell University Press. Distributed worldwide by Rutgers University Press.

172 pages, Hardcover

First published August 9, 2019

Reviews

[Mayumi Shimose Poe · Rating 5 out of 5]

Suzanne Farrell Smith’s The Memory Sessions is an incredibly thoughtful meditation on trauma, strength, what we can or cannot remember, what we forget or try to, the strange animal that is the body, the intricate machine that is the brain, and the tender, resilient, light-seeking seedling that is the heart. Though SFS’s first 12 years are rendered down to just two traumatic, vivid memories (the night her father was killed by a drunk driver when she was six, and a horrific housefire when she was eight), she bears exquisite witness throughout. To craft a childhood, she examines everything from photographs and old school notebooks and piano scores to dusty tchotchkes and unearthed cat remains, via cleaning out her mom’s house, psychotherapy, somatic experiencing, hypnotherapy, acupuncture, and more. To this, she adds determined research of newspaper archives, memory gathering from family and friends, and her own minute, precise, generous, and lyrical imagining.

[Gayle Pritchard · Rating 4 out of 5]

Quite an interesting premise for a memoir; unusual in approach. I found myself wanting to pick it up just to see what happened next. The writing also somehow triggered some specific memories for me, ones I intend to explore.

[Nancy · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Memory Sessions is a memoir that chronicles the aftermath of Suzanne’s father’s death in a drunk driving accident, and a catastrophic fire that nearly destroyed her childhood home. What happens to your memory when traumatic events become the milestones of your childhood? Suzanne documents her attempt to reclaim her childhood, looking for clues in therapy, interviews and childhood artifacts. A beautiful, beautiful book. Like Suzanne says, a memoir written without memory but she takes up the challenge gracefully and the end result is a moving homage to her family, and to her childhood.

[Carole Duff · Rating 5 out of 5]

Suzanne Farrell Smith has no stories to tell about her father, who died in a car accident when she was six. In fact, she has no memory of her childhood. How to write a memoir without memory? In The Memory Sessions, Farrell creates a past out of research, others’ memories, the objects in her mother’s house, her imagination, and various therapies. A troubling, beautifully written, unforgettable story.

[Sarah · Rating 3 out of 5]

An interesting memoir about making memories. The author experienced traumatic grief as a child and realizes that even her few memories of childhood may not be authentic. She begins a journey to "find" her memories, especially of her father.

[CRM · Rating 4 out of 5]

a great exploration of memory that challenged me to understand my own memories, my childhood and how I have dealt with trauma. An impactful book that left me feeling better about myself and feeling I know myself better now.

[Elizabeth Felicetti · Rating 5 out of 5]

Stunning "memoir written without memory." Gorgeously written.