Without a Map: A Memoir
by Meredith Hall
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Book Summary Information
Author: Meredith HallEdition: Paperback
Audio: English (Original Language); English (Unknown); English (Published)
Published: 2008-04-15
ISBN: 0807072745
Number of pages: 256
Publisher: Beacon Press
Book Reviews of Without a Map: A Memoir
Book Review: Memoir Through Whirligig Eyes
Summary: 5 Stars
Meredith Hall writes "The whirligig [water bug] can synthesize these two distinct realms [above and below the water's surface], creating a cohesive picture of the world above and the world below. I've always envied this ability. Imagine being able to see what is before you and at the same time what lies beneath the surface, the obscured, the unannounced, the threatening.
"I wish that I had had these eyes, had been able to see both realms: what was at the surface and what might lie below, the warning signs. At sixteen I'd held only one view: my mother loved me."
Like Hall, most people have to have the wind knocked out of them before they change their worldview. The lucky ones have someone who comforts them until they're able to breathe again.
Hall isn't lucky...when she is sixteen. She's seduced by an older boy's attention, gets pregnant, and is rejected by her parents, whose worldview won't allow them to do anything else. A girl who gets herself pregnant even their girl)is forever trash. Their family doctor agrees with them. He tells Hall "Don't try to tell me who the father of this baby is. I know you have no idea. Girls like you never do."
How many girls have heard this? How many will hear this?
Age, distance, and writing talent have permitted Meredith Hall to examine her life from above and below, and then relate what she believes contributed to the way she was treated and her inability to change the course of events. It's not all her mother's fault, her father's fault, her own fault, or even society's fault. It's more complicated than simple blame.
Perhaps her readers will borrow her whirligig eyes to look at the lives of people they know. Perhaps their new understanding will breed compassion.
Note: I wouldn't change a word of this memoir.
Summary of Without a Map: A Memoir
A New York Times Bestseller and 2007 Book Sense SelectionMeredith Hall's moving but unsentimental memoir begins in 1965, when she becomes pregnant at sixteen. Shunned by her insular New Hampshire community, she is then kicked out of the house by her mother. Her father and stepmother reluctantly take her in, hiding her before they finally banish her altogether. After giving her baby up for adoption, Hall wanders recklessly through the Middle East. She returns to New England and stitches together a life that encircles her silenced and invisible grief. When he is twenty-one, her lost son finds her. Hall learns that he grew up in gritty poverty with an abusive father?in her own father's hometown. Their reunion is tender, turbulent, and ultimately redemptive. What sets Without a Map apart is the way in which loss and betrayal evolve into compassion, and compassion into wisdom.
"Hall emerges as a brave writer of tumultuous beauty."
?Alanna Nash, Entertainment Weekly
"First-time author Hall pens a haunting meditation on love, loss, and family . . . Hall colors outside the lines with this memoir, full of unexpected twists and turns."
?Caroline Leavitt, People (rated 4 out of 4 stars)
"Beautifully rendered."
?Elle (a nonfiction readers' pick)
"A modern-day Scarlet Letter."
?Susan Salter Reynolds, Los Angeles Times
"A poignant, unflinchingly assured memoir . . . exquisite."
?Robert Braile, Boston Globe
"Meredith Hall's magnificent book held me in its thrall from the moment I began reading the opening pages . . . a fluid, beautifully written, hard-won piece of work that belongs on the shelf next to the best modern memoirs."
?Dani Shapiro, author of Black and White
"An unusually elegant memoir that feels as though it's been carved straight out of Meredith Hall's capacious heart. The story is riveting, the words perfect."
?Lauren Slater, author of Welcome to My Country and Opening Skinner's Box
"Hall's memoir is a sobering portrayal of how punitive her close-knit New Hampshire community was in 1965 when, at the age of 16, she became pregnant in the course of a casual summer romance . . . Hall offers a testament to the importance of understanding and even forgiving the people who, however unconscious or unkind, have made us who we are."
?Francine Prose, O Magazine
"Meredith Hall's long journey from an inexcusably betrayed girlhood to the bittersweet mercies of womanhood is a triple triumph-of survival; of narration; and of forgiveness. Without a Map is a masterpiece."
?David James Duncan, author of The Brothers K and God Laughs and Plays
"Each chapter of Without a Map is polished and elegantly written . . . the structure is shapely and the book yields poignant insights."
?Juliet Wittman, Washington Post
"Hall's memoir, Without a Map, is a devastating story of what happens when a person is exiled from her own life."
?Frances Lefkowitz, Body + Soul
"I'm awed by Meredith Hall's wisdom and integrity, by her gorgeous prose that deepens my understanding of resilience and love, of loss and forgiveness. A courageous and brilliant memoir."
?Ursula Hegi, author of The Worst Thing I've Done
"Without a Map tells an important and perceptive story about loss, about aloneness and isolation in a time of great need, about a life slowly coming back into focus and the calm that finally emerges. Meredith Hall is a brave new writer who earns our attention."
?Annie Dillard, author of Pilgrim at Tinker Creek and For the Time Being
"Elegant pprosed make Without a Map an evocative, thought-provoking read. But Hall's heartrending candor on love, loss and hope turn this first-time author's book into a one-sided coversation among new friends."
?Jennifer DeCamp, St. Petersburg Times
"A compelling, painful, hopeful story."
?Barbara Jones, More Magazine
"Without a Map tells a stunning story of exile and ostracization . . . Her memoir is a rare and clear glimpse into the social mores of the mid '60s, and reveals the state of shame many families faced when an unmarried daughter became pregnant."
?Liz Bulkley, The Front Porch, NHPR
"An unbelievable read."
?Robin Young, Here and Now, NPR
"Meredith Hall's memoir is so well written that it was hard for me to accept that the book had to end."
?Tina Ristau, Des Moines Register
"Painfully honest and beautifully written . . . Meredith Hall has managed to distill courage from raw pain, and then somehow write this gem of a book about the experience . . . A stunning book . . . You must read it."
?Lola Furber, Maine Women's Journal
"Meredith Hall is like a Geiger counter ticking along the radium edge of these recent decades. She gives us self as expert witness?Without a Map is smart, sharp, and redemptively honest."
?Sven Birkerts, author of The Gutenberg Elegies and My Sky Blue Trades
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