2 out of 4 stars
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“Life isn’t about waiting for the storm to pass…It’s about learning to dance in the rain” – Vivian Greene.
This iconic quote introduced the book Escaping Quicksand: Surviving Life’s Hazards, and aptly captured the true essence of J. Pearl-Wisdom’s memoir. The book consisted of anecdotes from her life which included childhood memories, school life, career experiences, friendships, and most importantly, her family life. Each chapter narrated a particular story from her past and concluded with an important life skill or message. The book was written from her perspective as a mother, and the lessons were specifically dedicated to her son.
Compared to the memoirs I have read, J. Pearl-Wisdom took a totally new approach to write hers. Actually, it cannot be classed entirely as a memoir. It was much more than that. I would describe it as a diverse fruit basket of real-life events and life lessons. One thing which made this book different from a traditional memoir was that it did not follow a logical sequence of events. The book began with the author’s experience of childbirth and parenting, but anecdotes from her childhood and school life surfaced later. Although this approach can be a bit confusing, it worked perfectly for this book because each chapter was able to stand alone. Each chapter also began and ended with an insightful quote or one-lined message. This subtly gave each one a quick introduction and conclusion. It reminded me of the stories from the Chicken Soup series of books, except that Escaping Quicksand was written by one author, not several contributors. The random sequencing of events could have also been a direct reference to the author’s love of movie montages, which was explicitly stated in the book. To me, the chapters of her book were synonymous with the short movie clips in a montage.
Although the majority of the book contained much of the author’s life, it also included lists, emojis, tables, questions, sketches, song lyrics, and diagrams. These things are not typically found in the memoirs I have previously read, but they definitely added a personal touch to this book. In addition to these, the author wrote the book from a unique perspective. She wrote it as if she was writing it to her young son. I felt as if I were given a secret glimpse into the challenging and rewarding experience of parenting.
I was also impressed by how relatable this book was. A wide variety of themes were presented in the author’s stories, such as parenting struggles, the importance of charity, family dynamics, and career advice. Bothersome household chores like loading and unloading the dishwasher were also mentioned. Nearly everyone can relate to these things, especially parenting. In addition to this, the author made reference to several movies, books, and songs which most people have seen, such as Father of the Bride, and Gone With the Wind. Moreover, a few of the author’s favorite recipes were included in the book, such as lava eggs, bulgogi, cloverleaf rolls, and won-tons. Since this book will mostly appeal to family-oriented readers (most of whom are the main meal-makers), these recipes will definitely be appreciated.
Despite these two positive aspects of the book, there were two things which reduced the quality of my reading experience. The first issue was the inconsistent use of past and present tenses. The book is mainly written in the present tense, but this made some sentences awkward. For instance, one sentence reads, “You are interested in volcanoes when you are four years old”. Past tense is occasionally used, like when the author described some of her childhood experiences. Other past events were described in the present. Some memories were also described using a mix of tenses, such as in chapters 24 and 25. Since this book mainly described memories, I think it would have been more suitable to use the past tense as the main tense of the book.
The second issue was that the book contained several errors, which included a noun/verb mix-up in one case, a few typos, and a couple of sentences that either contained an incorrect word or lacked a word. I think the book could benefit from one more round of editing.
Overall, I rate this book 2 out of 4 stars because it was uniquely written, and it was 100% relatable. I wish I could give it more stars, but the inconsistency with the tenses and the errors keep me from doing so. As mentioned before, this book will appeal to family-oriented readers like homemakers, mothers, and grandmothers. Adults whose parents’ consider them the “problem child” may also find this book to be insightful and interesting.
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Escaping Quicksand
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