Driving with Dead People: A Memoir [Hardcover]

Monica Holloway (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: March 6, 2007

Small wonder that, at nine years old, Monica Holloway develops a fascination with the local funeral home. With a father who drives his Ford pickup with a Kodak movie camera sitting shotgun just in case he sees an accident, and whose home movies feature more footage of disasters than of his children, Monica is primed to become a morbid child.

Yet in spite of her father's bouts of violence and abuse, her mother's selfishness and prim denial, and her siblings' personal battles and betrayals, Monica never succumbs to despair. Instead, she forges her own way, thriving at school and becoming fast friends with Julie Kilner, whose father is the town mortician.

She and Julie prefer the casket showroom, where they take turns lying in their favorite coffins, to the parks and grassy backyards in her hometown of Elk Grove, Ohio. In time, Monica and Julie get a job driving the company hearse to pick up bodies at the airport, yet even Monica's growing independence can't protect her from her parents' irresponsibility, and from the feeling that she simply does not deserve to be safe. Little does she know, as she finally strikes out on her own, that her parents' biggest betrayal has yet to be revealed.

Throughout this remarkable memoir of her dysfunctional, eccentric, and wholly unforgettable family, Monica Holloway's prose shines with humor, clear-eyed grace, and an uncommon sense of resilience. Driving with Dead People is an extraordinary real-life tale with a wonderfully observant and resourceful heroine.

--This text refers to the Paperback edition.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Death lurks everywhere in Holloway's childhood. A neighbor boy accidentally shoots and kills a train conductor; a little girl is mowed down by a motorist. Her father's main hobby is filming grisly car wrecks and natural disasters, and her best friend's family runs the town mortuary. Observing the dead in their coffins, Monica wonders: would she be better off in a casket than alive in her parents' home? In this memoir, Holloway (an actress turned writer) tackles the horrifyingly familiar story of father/daughter incest: the secrecy that surrounds it and the ways it corrodes families from the inside out. Even though her memories of the abuse were repressed, evidence cropped up everywhere, from her chronic bed-wetting and compulsive lying as a girl to her adult attraction to abusive men; when her older sister, JoAnn, comes forward with her recollections, Holloway begins to remember her own trauma. As a writer, Holloway might not be in Mary Karr's league, but her blunt sentences deliver the unvarnished truth. In coming to terms with her tragedy, Holloway writes, "Knowing there is no cavalry is much better than hoping for a cavalry that never comes." Her memoir sings with the power of a disenfranchised woman finally finding her own voice, and her brutal memoir is hard to forget. (Mar.)
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From Booklist

Holloway's candid story starts out innocently enough as she describes her eccentric family, especially her father, who loved "talking gore" and kept a movie camera in his pick-up for filming gruesome wrecks. Monica, too, has an obsession with death, and revels in her friendship with a mortician's daughter and their access to postmortems. When Monica reaches her teen years, her parents divorce. Her mother then decides it's "her turn," and she goes back to college, often leaving Monica and her next oldest sister alone. Holloway perceptively writes about hurtful moments embedded in her memory, such as her parents repeatedly telling her that her birth was a "mistake," and her mother's selfish refusal to pay for treatment for a kidney infection. The final piece of this dysfunctional family's puzzle falls into place when the oldest sister begins to remember being molested by their father; so, too, does Monica. Amidst a burgeoning number of abuse memoirs, Holloway's shines because of her deft handling of the small details while painstakingly assembling the larger picture. Deborah Donovan
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 336 pages
• Publisher: Simon Spotlight Entertainment; 1ST edition (March 6, 2007)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1416940022
• ISBN-13: 978-1416940029
• Product Dimensions: 8.4 x 5.9 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (57 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #788,444 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Monica Holloway is the critically acclaimed author of the memoir "Driving With Dead People," described by Newsweek as "unforgettable," Glamour christened this work "a classic," and the Washington Post deemed it "irresistible." Holloway contributed to the anthology "The Bigger the Better the Tighter the Sweater" and "Mommy Wars," from which her essay "Red Boots and Cole Haans" was described by Newsday as "brilliant, grimly hilarious."

Holloway's new bestselling memoir, "Cowboy & Wills," is the story of her lovable, brilliant autistic son, Wills, and the remarkable dog that coaxes him into the world. PEOPLE magazine commented: "Readers would do well to listen to this sweet and heartbreaking tale of boy-dog love. There are so many of us, with or without autism, who have our animals to thank for helping us connect." The Washington Post called "Cowboy & Wills" "charming" and the author "forthright and winning."

"Cowboy & Wills" is the prestigious Mom's Choice Awards® Gold Recipient for 2010.

Monica is an official spokesperson for the National Center for Family Literacy and Autism Speaks, raising awareness and participation for two issues she cares about deeply as a mother and author. She is the recipient of 2011 Women of Distinction Award from the Special Needs Network for work in the community.

Holloway lives in Los Angeles with her family and two golden retrievers, a hamster, four hermit crabs, three dumpy frogs, two rabbits and six neon tetras.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

15 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Triumph of the Human Spirit, March 20, 2007

By 

I. M. O'neil "Michelle O'Neil" (Cleveland, Ohio) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Driving with Dead People: A Memoir (Hardcover)

Holloway performs the delicate balance of making you laugh hysterically, as you read about her very tragic childhood. Not easy to pull off, but she does it seamlessly.

This book is so good. Once you start, it's impossible to put it down. You love the girl Monica was and the woman she becomes.

19 of 20 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Touches all of your senses, March 17, 2007

By 

authorwork (Woodinville, WA United States) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Driving with Dead People: A Memoir (Hardcover)

I read this book with rapt attention. The young girl's voice was so authentic and innocent, I found myself fully engaged by the end of the first page. The writing is excellent and the humor is expertly placed throughout. This girl is real and human and courageous beyond belief. I cheered to see her come out on top after crying with her and her sister in the struggle to get there.

12 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A page turner., March 16, 2007

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Avid Reader "AR" (USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Driving with Dead People: A Memoir (Hardcover)

Driving with Dead People is the book you want for your long plane ride or a bad weather day because it will keep you turning the pages and not wanting it to end. The story is revealed in a unique way, keeping a serious subject as light as possible. This is a must read!