Monday, January 10, 2011

Driving With Dead People (Monica Holloway)


When I pick up a new book, I am one of the few out there who literally read it cover to cover. When I say that, I truly mean it. I read the inside book jacket and the blurbs from bestselling authors on the back. One sentence that truly sums up this book is by author Barbara Abercrombie. She quotes "In the space of one sentence Monica Holloway can break your heart and make you laugh out loud at the same time." This truly sums up what it is like reading this memoir.

Driving With Dead People is Monica Holloway's memoir of growing up in small-town Ohio, living with her parents and three siblings. She longs for love, attention, and to simply be wanted by her parents. Her father lives a lie by faithfully going to Church each Sunday and being a member of numerous civic groups. Holloway wonders why he showers attention on others, but cannot seem to love his own family. Her mother turns a blind eye to all types of abuse in the house; even, as we later find out, the worst kind. Absolutely heartbreaking is when Monica has a casual conversation with her mother, and finds out they had planned on stopping after three children and were extremely upset upon learning of the fourth pregnancy. Monica was the fourth child.

The "dead people" come into play throughout this memoir, especially when Monica befriends a girl whose family runs the local mortuary. Don't miss Driving With Dead People. It is unbelievably sad, hysterically funny at times, but wonderfully uplifting.

MY RATING - 5