MEMOIR

Gather Me: A Memoir in Praise of the Books That Saved Me

by Glory Edim
Ballantine. Oct. 2024. 288p. ISBN 9780525619796. $28. MEMOIR
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Edim (founder, Well-Read Black Girl; On Girlhood: 15 Stories from the Well-Read Black Girl Library) penned a highly personal memoir about growing up outside Washington, DC, the oldest of three children of Nigerian immigrant parents. She often found herself assuming the role of adult after her father returned to Nigeria and also during the years her mother experienced severe depression. She shares how books became an escape and a classroom, too. Her book is most compelling when she describes her interactions with these books, including the ways she interpreted them initially and reinterpreted them upon subsequent readings. Engaging with the texts of Toni Morrison, bell hooks, Audre Lorde, and others helped Edim determine how to best assert her own visions of love, strength, family, and freedom.
VERDICT This title is a strong and welcome addition to the genre of biblio-memoirs. Give to fans of Alberto Manguel’s Packing My Library, Hamlet’s Dresser by Bob Smith, and Sixpence House by Paul Collins.
Reviewed by Jessica Epstein , Aug 09, 2024
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