Show Me the Way: A Memoir in Stories

by Jennifer Lauck

Book Overview

Having lost both of her prents at an early age, Jennifer Lauck, acclaimed author of the memoir Blackbird and its follow-up, Still Waters, has in Show Me the Way made peace with her past in order to face the future as a mother herself.
In this luminous and mature work, Lauck offers an unflinching account of the joys and pains of modern motherhood. Show Me the Way touches upon the themes common to so many of Lauck's...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0743476395
• ISBN13: 9780743476393
• Release Date: April 2005
• Publisher: Atria Books
• Length: 275 Pages
• Weight: 0.60 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.7" x 5.0" x 8.0"

Customer Reviews

Unique Point of View

I love Jennifer Lauck's life memoirs. The story of neglect she suffered was tragic, realistic and yet not sensationalized. She didn't need to embellish her story to make it stong and memorable. This collection of observations is more current than past memoirs but no less strong and moving.

Wonderful!

Quite simply, one of the very best books of this type I have read. I hope Jennifer Lauck continues to publish. She is indeed a gifter author.

Complex, stirring, intense

With her flawless writing and sure hand, Lauck tells a painful story that isn't maudlin and doesn't beg for sympathy -- it just is. If you liked this book, you might try "An Egg on Three Sticks" by Jackie Moyer Fischer, "Sights Unseen" by Kaye Gibbons, and "A Girl in Parts" by Jasmine Paul.

Stunning!

Show Me the Way is a gorgeously written memoir for real mothers everywhere. The stories weave together seamlessly into a true picture of motherhood, with its highs and lows. I recommend this highly.

Heartwarming, not heartbreaking

Show Me the Way is Jennifer Lauck?s third memoir, and continues to demonstrate her fine writing skills. Jennifer has an amazing ability to examine the best and worst of humankind through the eyes of her life, communicating tremendous joy and grief with clarity and honesty. Blackbird: A Childhood Lost and Found is the story of Lauck?s early childhood, which began with adoption by two loving parents and quickly slid into horrible abuse after their deaths. Stillwaters follows Jennifer to her adoption by her father?s sister and through adolescence where resentment and anger took the place of love, caring, and compassion. Through both of these books, the reader senses Jennifer marking time until adulthood, freedom, and independence. Show Me the Way delivers the next step of Jennifer?s journey as she and her husband start a family. Jennifer faces many of the same challenges as other women that are attempting to balance the roles of mother, wife, lover, and self. Interspersed with Jennifer?s depiction of the physical emotion of childbirth and rearing are recollections of Jennifer?s own childhood and the loss of her parents. The reader can almost feel Jennifer reaching back in time to her mother and father, both requesting and sending love and acceptance. Approaching the birth of her second child, Jennifer seeks to make sure her son will never hurt his younger sister. Wrapped through these conversations is the love Jennifer?s brother was afraid to feel and her sadness at his suicide in his early twenties.After searching for adulthood for so long, Jennifer finally finds discovers it comes in fragments like fighting for your children with the pediatrician, or embracing a moment of child induced chaos during a Starbucks morning filled with people eager to get to their offices.Show Me the Way is not as gripping or heartrending in the same way as Blackbird or Stillwaters, and it should not be. It would be too simplistic to call Jennifer a survivor, for her spirit and ability to envelope the reader into her heart is something more. Although Show Me the Way is strong enough to stand on its own, it is best read after Jennifer?s first two books so the reader can live Jennifer?s journey with her.