I stumbled across this book, because I can't resist a book sale. I bought it and forgot about it. Then, in moment of "having nothing to read" despite a massive "to read" pile, I decided to read this memoir.
It was instantly engrossing. I have never read anything by Dani Shapiro before, and I had no expectations.
At 23, Dani had abandoned her Orthodox Jewish upbringing and her expensive college education to work as an occasional model/actress and shack up with a wealthy, older, very dubious married man. She was going nowhere fast. When she receives a call from a relative to let her know that her parents were involved in a severe car crash and appear unlikely to make it, she rushes home. Attending to this unexpected tragedy and the fallout that follows gives her the perspective she needs to make some significant changes in her life.
I have been thinking about memoir quite a bit... and how they always say you should write as though your relatives are dead. I caught myself cringing a few times due to the author sharing things I may have kept to myself. She paints a picture of herself that isn't very likeable - spoilt, whiny, self-centred - and in doing so does a great job of capturing those awkward, youthful moments when we don't like ourselves very much, and act accordingly.
It's not cheerful, and you do need to be in the right mood for it, but it got me to reserve my judgement, see things from her perspective and have some compassion - which is what a good memoir should do. I have very little in common with Dani Shapiro, but I found myself thinking about themes like love and loss, forgiveness and family, and questioning my own perspectives.
This book was originally published in 1997/1998 - and is mostly set in the mid-80s. Odd side note, I really enjoyed reading about pay phones and answering machines.
Slow Motion by Dani Shapiro was published by Harper Perennial.
