Minna Proctor's LANDSLIDE is a charismatic, darkly funny collection of linked essays which primarily explore the author's complicated relationship with her mother, who was diagnosed with cancer at age 57 and died a decade later. A subtle exploration of the ways in which their fierce mother-daughter connection became the -prime mover- in Proctor's life, these lively essays also cover the trials and triumphs of Proctor's own life--her reckless youth, the bumpy start and quick dissolution of her first marriage, the pleasure she takes from her two children, the health scares that threaten to take her hard earned pleasures away, the mythology she constructs in her writing, and the confounding experience of reconciling with her mother after her death. Through these essays, Proctor pushes against her own memory and challenges her own narrative. -We all have totemic stories, - she writes. -The way we choose them--and then choose to tell them--is more important ultimately than the actual events.- In LANDSLIDE, Proctor bewitchingly examines the twists and turns of life with great flair, but without artifice or self-consciousness--there is a sense of intimacy as if Proctor is telling these stories only to you.
Minna Proctor's LANDSLIDE is a charismatic, darkly funny collection of linked essays which primarily explore the author's complicated relationship with her mother, who was diagnosed with cancer at age 57 and died a decade later. A subtle exploration of the ways in which their fierce mother-daughter connection became the -prime mover- in Proctor's life, these lively essays also cover the trials and triumphs of Proctor's own life--her reckless youth, the bumpy start and quick dissolution of her first marriage, the pleasure she takes from her two children, the health scares that threaten to take her hard earned pleasures away, the mythology she constructs in her writing, and the confounding experience of reconciling with her mother after her death. Through these essays, Proctor pushes against her own memory and challenges her own narrative. -We all have totemic stories, - she writes. -The way we choose them--and then choose to tell them--is more important ultimately than the actual events.- In LANDSLIDE, Proctor bewitchingly examines the twists and turns of life with great flair, but without artifice or self-consciousness--there is a sense of intimacy as if Proctor is telling these stories only to you.