memoir book review

Post #91 – Women’s Memoirs, Book & Video Raves – Kendra Bonnett and Matilda Butler

Something to Learn about Memoir Writing

Sharon Lippincott writes monthly for Women’s Memoirs about the topic of Writing and Healing. Her valuable posts provide insights into the research and practice that results in writing with positive, transformative outcomes.

Recently Sharon contacted me about a memoir she’d read to see if we’d be interested in a review. The small wrinkle — the memoir is by a man. Once Sharon and I talked this through, it become clear that she’d pinpointed a memoir we can learn from because the author, Boyd Lemon, had reached deep inside his experiences to analyze and understand what had gone wrong.

Enough said. I assured Sharon we’d be quite interested in her review. We think you’ll agree.

Digging Deep by Boyd Lemon
Reviewed by Sharon Lippincott

If only I knew what he was thinking! What woman hasn’t had this thought about a husband, lover, relative, colleague, or friend? It seems clear that they don’t think the same way we do — or do they? Sometimes we get glimpses, but the shroud of silence is often difficult to penetrate.

Boyd Lemon rips down all the curtains in his memoir Digging Deep: A Writer Uncovers His Marriages. Lemon’s path led him into an early marriage for many wrong reasons to a woman he hardly knew. That marriage didn’t last. Neither did his second or third. He was humiliated by his lack of success as a husband and determined to do better with the second and third tries. He funded his floundering personal life with a career as a highly paid attorney—a profession that, like marriage, he entered for many of the wrong reasons. [click to continue…]

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