Finding Annie Farrell : A Family Memoir

Rating:
Summary: A must read for lovers of Maine---an amazing book
Review: I am not sure when was the last time I read a book with which I felt such a connection. The author's quest to understand her mother, who grew up in rural inland Maine in the 1930s, and who wound up a very depressed housewife in New York City, would be a compelling tale even in less able hands, but the wonderful writing here makes this an amazing book. I grew up in Maine, but in coastal Maine, and I think reading this book was one of the first times I truly understood the vast difference between coastal Maine and inland Maine, even after reading and re-reading the wonderful We Took to the Woods, written about the same time period as Harpaz's mother's childhood. Annie Farrell's sisters are both well drawn individuals and also so much like so many women I knew in Maine, especially during the times I spent in Aroostook County as a young adult. The gradual unfolding of family secrets, and the realization that some stories can never really be confirmed or disputed is something most of us have found in learning about family history, but few can tell it as well as this book does. If you love family memoirs, geneology, Maine, New York City, World War II stories, or in fact just good reads in general, I highly recommend this book!

Rating:
Summary: A must read for lovers of Maine---an amazing book
Review: I am not sure when was the last time I read a book with which I felt such a connection. The author's quest to understand her mother, who grew up in rural inland Maine in the 1930s, and who wound up a very depressed housewife in New York City, would be a compelling tale even in less able hands, but the wonderful writing here makes this an amazing book. I grew up in Maine, but in coastal Maine, and I think reading this book was one of the first times I truly understood the vast difference between coastal Maine and inland Maine, even after reading and re-reading the wonderful We Took to the Woods, written about the same time period as Harpaz's mother's childhood. Annie Farrell's sisters are both well drawn individuals and also so much like so many women I knew in Maine, especially during the times I spent in Aroostook County as a young adult. The gradual unfolding of family secrets, and the realization that some stories can never really be confirmed or disputed is something most of us have found in learning about family history, but few can tell it as well as this book does. If you love family memoirs, geneology, Maine, New York City, World War II stories, or in fact just good reads in general, I highly recommend this book!

Rating:
Summary: Finding Annie Farrell : A Family Memoir
Review: This memoir reviews a seemingly unhappy life that might be described as upwardly mobile but emotionally bereft. However, like that of many others belonging to the so-called greatest generation, it was also remarkably far-reaching. An AP reporter, Harpaz (The Girls in the Van) applies her journalistic skills to uncovering the true life story of her mother. Annie Farrell (1922- 83) was born into a poor Maine family that she lost owing to death and neglect. From these difficult beginnings, she went on to become Lena Farrell, a stunning New Yorker with middle-class aspirations and huge disappointments. Early chapters focus on the family's breakup, Annie's "orphan" years, and how Annie reinvented herself by coming to the Big Apple to work for the war department. The author also explores daily life with her often incompatible parents and rebellious yet appealing older sister. Unlike similar biographies of troubled mothers (e.g., Tara Elgin Holley's My Mother's Keeper: A Daughter's Memoir of Growing Up in the Shadow of Schizophrenia), this one keeps psychologizing to a minimum. The result is a readable, moving, and astute examination of a life, which, given its impact on others, was probably more successful than its subject realized. Highly recommended for public libraries.-