Title: Keeper of the Moon: A Southern Boyhood
Author: Tim McLaurin
Genre: Non-fiction Memoir
Rating: 3/5
Description: A critically acclaimed and prize-winning memoir
Review: Keeper of the Moon is not only a great memoir about growing up in the South and learning the many lessons a young boy might face, but about the overall human experience we all feel growing up. By growing up, I not only mean childhood, but just in general in our lives. We never stop growing. McLaurin tells it straight- our continuous journey through life, even if his is very different from a readers. I find it relatable, because while I have never lived on a farm or handled snakes I get something from each passage where he explains an event in his life that I can compare to my own. In fact, some of these stories remind me of stories my own grandfather would tell. He lived on a farm and went through many similar things. I was not disgusted by the scene where McLaurin has to save the piglets and the sow. Instead, I was amazed. I found it ironic and disturbing, but it was also pleasing. His writing, in general, is pleasing. You definitely don’t even have to like what is happening or even be pleased by it to enjoy the writing. McLaurin hits the mark in every passage. I’m absolutely envious. I relished in the rawness of the prose as well. It weaves points in time together like threads of fabric, creating what I find to be like a giant quilt your grandmother would make for you. It has all the pieces of your past tucked inside each stitch. Every memory and every feeling rushes back with it. This book gives you chills, yet like the old quilt, will get you warm just before you freeze to death. I really like this so far. The narrator isn’t pathetic nor is he proud. He just is himself in whatever being of himself he is in a particular moment, and it what it is, honest and open. It focuses on the realities of the world and how even in difficult times, we must endure. I have enjoyed reading about the writer’s endurance, his patience, about the unattractive truths and the beauty in simple pleasures of his life. This memoir’s strength lies in its vivid honesty. He is brutal in his direct approach on the past, which he returns to frequently, leaving even the tartest memories just as purely tart as they were back then. A bittersweet read!
Author: Tim McLaurin
Genre: Non-fiction Memoir
Rating: 3/5
Description: A critically acclaimed and prize-winning memoir
Review: Keeper of the Moon is not only a great memoir about growing up in the South and learning the many lessons a young boy might face, but about the overall human experience we all feel growing up. By growing up, I not only mean childhood, but just in general in our lives. We never stop growing. McLaurin tells it straight- our continuous journey through life, even if his is very different from a readers. I find it relatable, because while I have never lived on a farm or handled snakes I get something from each passage where he explains an event in his life that I can compare to my own. In fact, some of these stories remind me of stories my own grandfather would tell. He lived on a farm and went through many similar things. I was not disgusted by the scene where McLaurin has to save the piglets and the sow. Instead, I was amazed. I found it ironic and disturbing, but it was also pleasing. His writing, in general, is pleasing. You definitely don’t even have to like what is happening or even be pleased by it to enjoy the writing. McLaurin hits the mark in every passage. I’m absolutely envious. I relished in the rawness of the prose as well. It weaves points in time together like threads of fabric, creating what I find to be like a giant quilt your grandmother would make for you. It has all the pieces of your past tucked inside each stitch. Every memory and every feeling rushes back with it. This book gives you chills, yet like the old quilt, will get you warm just before you freeze to death. I really like this so far. The narrator isn’t pathetic nor is he proud. He just is himself in whatever being of himself he is in a particular moment, and it what it is, honest and open. It focuses on the realities of the world and how even in difficult times, we must endure. I have enjoyed reading about the writer’s endurance, his patience, about the unattractive truths and the beauty in simple pleasures of his life. This memoir’s strength lies in its vivid honesty. He is brutal in his direct approach on the past, which he returns to frequently, leaving even the tartest memories just as purely tart as they were back then. A bittersweet read!