Post #10 – Women’s Memoirs, Book Raves – Matilda Butler and Kendra Bonnett
In our book reviews, we examine memoirs from the perspective of what writers rather than readers will find to help them along their creative path. Heather Summerhayes Cariou’s Sixtyfive Roses: A Sister’s Memoir is like entering a candy shop filled with more tempting confections than you have ever seen or imagined. Read this memoir, consume large doses of her writing polish and you’ll find yourself on a creative high.
But first, a brief synopsis. Heather Summerhayes Cariou and her younger sister Pam were best friends. They shared a bedroom, shared made-up games, shared secrets and laughter, and all too soon, shared sadness. When Heather was six and Pam was four, their parents finally had a diagnosis for why Pam (called Pammy by her family) failed to gain weight, why she had violent coughing spells in the middle of the night and why her skin was often blue. She had Cystic Fibrosis. Heather’s parents, determined to do everything they could for Pam, founded the Canadian Cystic Fibrosis Foundation, sought out every medical expert they learned about, and gave their children a model of fierce determination even in the face of odds that could not be beaten.
Pam, at the age of four, unable to say the words Cystic Fibrosis, announced to everyone that she had Sixtyfive Roses, which became the name of this brilliant, insightful, honest memoir.
I’m going to tempt you with just a few of Heather’s pieces of candy. You’ll find confections like this on almost every page:
“We would balance a potent cocktail of emotions with the practical demands of our day-to-day functioning.” p. 47
“Essentially, my family was alone when we began our journey through the war zone of catastrophic illness. … Our hearts might have grown hard but for the way our losses broke them open.” p. 58
“The very air rushing in behind them smells fresh with excitement.” p. 64
“She could not bandage the scrape on my heart with gauze and white adhesive tape from the medicine chest. I knew that, and the knowing only made the needing worse.” p. 92
“Her cough started deep inside the cave of her chest with a dark, wet rumble that rolled up and out of her like the sound of thunder with heavy rain. The sound poured into my ears, making me shiver.” p. 112
“BOOM! The compressor in the basement started up and I was suddenly awake, gulping for air, shivering, hugging my knees to my chest, my covers kicked into a tangle at the end of the bed. … The compressor shut itself off. The tent hissed. The wind moaned. The house was still as a tomb. I strained my ears to hear if Pan was breathing. I was scared she would die in the night, without warning.” p. 116-117
“Panting, I … threw myself on the ground, and let go the fierce tears that had been pushing at me from inside. The incessant knot of paint that sat in the wel of my chest burned red up through my esophagus and screamed out along the path of my tongue. I sobbed and heaved against the pungent earth. My nostrils pressed to the dank soil, I inhaled the sweet, piercing scent that soothed my hot head. The fallen leaves were damp and cool against my cheek.” p. 136
“She [Heather’s mother] rearranged me too, controlled me, dumped my dresser drawers upside down, turned my whole insides out and made me put them back, all my feelings my entire wild spectrum of emotions, organized into straight lines and folded into neat piles.” p. 150
“As time went on, I learned to relinquish the right to own my own physical pain, and suffered the death of my ability to voice it.” p. 160
“[Pam’s] laughter was contagious, a jumper cable wired straight to my heart.” p. 161
“[My mother] stood square in the kitchen, leafing through the red Purity Flour Cookbook, feeding us on homemade chili sauce, cabbage rolls, pot roast, and the remnants of her lost dreams.” p. 185
My list of favorite passages goes on and on. But this sampler is enough to illustrate the incredible care that has been taken in the telling of Heather’s story. Heather is serious about the craft of memoir and Sixtyfive Roses is her way of sharing both her life and her passion for writing with us. A real treasure.
If you have not listened to our interview with Heather, CLICK HERE. She offers valuable pointers and suggestions for writers.
