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A Memoir
by Erika J. Simpson
Book Reviewed by:From "a writer who's absolutely going places" (Roxane Gay), a remarkable, inventive debut memoir about a mother-daughter relationship across cycles of poverty, separation, and illness, exploring how we forge identity in the face of imminent loss.
Growing up, Erika Simpson's mother loomed large, almost biblical in her life. A daughter of sharecroppers, middle child of ten, her origin story served as a Genesis. Her departure from home and a cheating husband, pursuing higher education along the way a kind of Exodus. Her rules for survival, often repeated like the Ten Commandments, guided Erika's own journey into adulthood. And the most important rule? Throughout her life, Sallie Carol preached the power of a testimony—which often proved useful in talking her way out of a bind with bill collectors.
But where does a mother's story end and a daughter's begin? In this brave, illuminating memoir, Erika offers a joint recollection of their lives as they navigate the realities of destitution often left undiscussed. Her mother's uncanny ability to endure Job-like trials and manifest New Testament–style miracles made her seem invincible. But while our parents may start out as gods in our lives, through her mother's final months and fifth battle with cancer, Erika captures the moment you realize they are just people.
This gorgeously rendered story of a mother's life through her daughter's eyes weaves together a dual timeline, pulling inspiration from both scripture and pop culture as Erika moves through grief to a place of clarity where she can see who she is without her mom—and because of her.
From its first lines onward, Erika J. Simpson's debut memoir invites readers to get to know and admire her mother, a larger-than-life figure who died in 2013. The dual timeline toggles between the final five months of her mother's life and Simpson's memories of her own childhood in Decatur, Georgia and early adulthood in Chicago. Incorporating various formats and voices, the book has verve and lightness that contrast with the family's struggles. Although chronology can be a bit confusing, the recurrent use of second-person narration draws readers in. We feel the devastation that sets in when this woman who has overcome the odds so many times finally succumbs. But we also have space to think about our own mothers, whether living or dead: their quirks, their failures, their struggles, their love that overcame everything and lasts still...continued
Full Review
(609 words)
(Reviewed by Rebecca Foster).
Alexander Chee, author of How to Write an Autobiographical Novel
Mother as archive, mother as lesson, mother as love, mother as a set of rules spoken and unspoken—Erika J. Simpson's singular debut memoir, This Is Your Mother, is a powerful story of how to survive America, and how to survive what our parents teach us about themselves and ourselves, too. Jeannette Walls, #1 New York Times bestselling author of The Glass Castle
A beautiful story about an extraordinary mother's gift of love and hope—and how, against all odds, that gift triumphs over the harsh realities of life.
Erika J. Simpson's This Is Your Mother is an unconventional memoir about the author's mother Sallie Carol. Below we highlight some other recommended memoirs in which an author reflects on their relationship with their mother, often (but not always) after her death.
Mom & Me & Mom by Maya Angelou: Angelou's seventh volume of autobiography is an honest portrayal of her mother, Vivian Baxter, who sent three-year-old Maya and her five-year-old brother Bailey to live with their grandmother in Arkansas. It took years to rebuild their relationship after a 10-year separation, but Angelou writes that the woman she called "Lady" supported her and taught her "to live my life with pizazz."
The End Is the Beginning: A Personal History of My Mother...
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