Memoir project #1: The Rabbi's Daughter
This summer I'm on a mission to read books of memoir. I started with The Rabbi's Daughter, by Reva Mann, billed as a true story of sex, drugs, and orthodoxy. I really enjoyed it, but found it disconcerting that there was no plot synopsis on the book, at least the version I had. A friend had loaned me the book, but without further description I don't know that I would have picked it up myself.
The book is sad. She describes herself as being a rebellious child growing up, who then converts to the strictest version of Judaism, who then (and this is what the story is about), has to come to terms with those two worlds - the secular (and liberal Judaism) and the stricter religious practices she adopts. It's a very interesting read, and I for one learned a lot of Judaism I didn't know (including a lot of terms - someone mentioned "sitting shiva" the other day, and I actually knew what they were talking about). Now, if you're looking for a memoir about sex and drugs, well, this isn't really hardcore enough to satisfy you (this is where a description of the narrative journey of the novel would have helped), but it is a really interesting exploration of one woman's journey and attempts at self-control and then self-acceptance.
Part of my mission in reading memoirs is to study how they've been done so I can apply that to my own writings, so here I'll talk about things the general reader probably wouldn't even notice. The book is written primarily in present tense, which I've decided I don't like as a writing style. This is something I need to explore more, but I really find it somehow juvenile and shallow. I don't know why at this point. I have thumbed through a number of other memoirs since starting The Rabbi's Daughter, and they have also mostly been in present tense. So this is a theme I will think on as I continue to read.
The reason the author seems to write in present tense is that she has a LOT of flashbacks, as I suppose she must in order to talk about her current orthodox world and get the sex and drugs (which occurred earlier) in there. These flashbacks are in past tense, which makes sense, and mostly does work. I suspect I followed along most of the time because, subconsciously, I was aware of the narrative's location in time due to the tenses used. BUT in many parts the author slips back and forth quite a lot between time periods, and I find her technique really fails in these instances. I got confused more than a few times and had to re-read. My conscious mind would think, "She changed tenses, WTF?" and then realize that one sentence was a flashback while the rest of the page was the present.
This is not a technique I would want to use for my own writings. I CAN see the utility of writing memoirs in present tense -- they are a way to bring a sense of immediacy to the reader while making it clear that the narrative position of the author is "I am writing from this period of my life, this is my 'present'; I'm not writing from my current age and knowledge"; whereas someone writing memoir fully in past tense seems to indicate that the author is writing from the present of the writer's current age.
The memoir ended with answering some of the major questions brought up by the narrative, coming full circle and providing narrative closure, which is excellent. In many parts this book is sad, as I said above, for which I think the reader should be warned. It's not a light read, but it's very worthwhile. I definitely learned a lot about another country (she grows up in London but most of her adult life is in Israel) and an experience that seems completely different than my own, but one which I could also relate to. I think this is the power of memoir, and I look forward to reading more.
My final thought, also from a personal perspective, is that I found it really interesting that the author did not have an abusive childhood and yet she ended up with so many problems stemming from that childhood. To me, it shows that most people have difficult childhoods in one way or another; or, perhaps, that while some personalities might grow up just fine in an unhealthy situation, another child with a different personality will suffer greatly.
The book is sad. She describes herself as being a rebellious child growing up, who then converts to the strictest version of Judaism, who then (and this is what the story is about), has to come to terms with those two worlds - the secular (and liberal Judaism) and the stricter religious practices she adopts. It's a very interesting read, and I for one learned a lot of Judaism I didn't know (including a lot of terms - someone mentioned "sitting shiva" the other day, and I actually knew what they were talking about). Now, if you're looking for a memoir about sex and drugs, well, this isn't really hardcore enough to satisfy you (this is where a description of the narrative journey of the novel would have helped), but it is a really interesting exploration of one woman's journey and attempts at self-control and then self-acceptance.
Part of my mission in reading memoirs is to study how they've been done so I can apply that to my own writings, so here I'll talk about things the general reader probably wouldn't even notice. The book is written primarily in present tense, which I've decided I don't like as a writing style. This is something I need to explore more, but I really find it somehow juvenile and shallow. I don't know why at this point. I have thumbed through a number of other memoirs since starting The Rabbi's Daughter, and they have also mostly been in present tense. So this is a theme I will think on as I continue to read.
The reason the author seems to write in present tense is that she has a LOT of flashbacks, as I suppose she must in order to talk about her current orthodox world and get the sex and drugs (which occurred earlier) in there. These flashbacks are in past tense, which makes sense, and mostly does work. I suspect I followed along most of the time because, subconsciously, I was aware of the narrative's location in time due to the tenses used. BUT in many parts the author slips back and forth quite a lot between time periods, and I find her technique really fails in these instances. I got confused more than a few times and had to re-read. My conscious mind would think, "She changed tenses, WTF?" and then realize that one sentence was a flashback while the rest of the page was the present.
This is not a technique I would want to use for my own writings. I CAN see the utility of writing memoirs in present tense -- they are a way to bring a sense of immediacy to the reader while making it clear that the narrative position of the author is "I am writing from this period of my life, this is my 'present'; I'm not writing from my current age and knowledge"; whereas someone writing memoir fully in past tense seems to indicate that the author is writing from the present of the writer's current age.
The memoir ended with answering some of the major questions brought up by the narrative, coming full circle and providing narrative closure, which is excellent. In many parts this book is sad, as I said above, for which I think the reader should be warned. It's not a light read, but it's very worthwhile. I definitely learned a lot about another country (she grows up in London but most of her adult life is in Israel) and an experience that seems completely different than my own, but one which I could also relate to. I think this is the power of memoir, and I look forward to reading more.
My final thought, also from a personal perspective, is that I found it really interesting that the author did not have an abusive childhood and yet she ended up with so many problems stemming from that childhood. To me, it shows that most people have difficult childhoods in one way or another; or, perhaps, that while some personalities might grow up just fine in an unhealthy situation, another child with a different personality will suffer greatly.