The Dead Ladies Project: Exiles, Expats, and Ex-Countries

Writer, blogger at Bookslut.com, and tarot reader Crispin flees depression in Chicago in an attempt to discover reasons to live. A wanderer at heart, Crispin begins anew in Berlin, Germany. She seeks out the stories of women and men whose literary, artistic, and personal endeavors were developed during times of expatriation. This memoir entwines her tangible and emotional journeys. While this offering provides scant information about the individuals whose lives and works have intrigued Crispin, it affords an abundance of honest confessions, feelings, and insights. Crispin opines openly and unapologetically about politics, social justice, marriage, love, art, music, and other topics. Unfortunately, some of these observations are didactic, repetitive, and unimaginative. Most fascinating are the lovely, frequently unorthodox descriptions of the locations that Crispin visits and accounts of their inhabitants. Amy McFadden draws in listeners with a combination of conversational flow, pacing fluctuations, and humor.