The Memoir Club [Hardcover]

Laura Kalpakian (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: January 27, 2004

Six women, each with her own misgivings, take a university Extension night class in Writing Your Memoir, looking only for a little bibliotherapy. The following semester, they meet privately; the memoir class becomes the Memoir Club. In coming to terms with their losses, with their own guilt - in writing to break through that stubborn, opaque barrier to the past - they forge a new present. And a new future. Their teacher, the enigmatic Penny Taylor, steps in at the right moment and steps out before her students can thank her.

In the beginning, grief-stricken Dr. Caryn Henley only goes to the class at the insistence of her longtime friend, Nell, a woman so loyal that behind her back people call her "the St. Bernard." Rusty Meadows wants to write a memoir for a daughter she gave up at birth. Mrs. Francine Hellman wants her memoir to laud her late husband, the scientist Dr. Marcus Hellman, only to find he had a past unknown to her. The elderly, unconventional Sarah Jane Perkins writes to come to terms with the cruelties her rigid mother inflicted on her artistic, bootlegging father. And Korean-born Jill McDougall comes to the memoir class to find out who she is, and why she's living in a warehouse with a man who loves ice cream. These students of the memoir achieve what they set out to do, but discover what they never expected. Then an act of violence alters their lives forever.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

"The memoir is... literary shape that you give to the past," but how might an understanding of past events shape the future? Kalpakian (Educating Waverly; Graced Land) explores this question in her 12th novel, in which six women enrolled in a university extension class on the memoir grapple with their personal histories. When the class ends, these memoirists, who vary in age, financial status and life experience, continue to meet once a week to explore their pasts and discover each other. Alternating chapters focus on each of the women in turn, and Kalpakian expertly reveals them as distinct, believable individuals: Rusty, still mourning the newborn daughter she gave up some 30 years ago; Francine, the devoted widow of a brilliant man whom she learns hid a devastating secret from her; Sarah Jane, an author and child of the Depression; adopted Jill, who yearns to understand her Korean roots; Caryn, a doctor flailing in a sea of grief since a terrible tragedy; and her strong best friend, Nell, who has kept her afloat. As compelling as each woman is, Caryn and Nell are clearly the stars, and their intense friendship forms the core of the story. As lives intertwine and unlikely kinships are formed, the members turn to each other when tragedy strikes one of their own. That tragedy is an unnecessary and unfortunate plot twist, and the conclusion is too tidy. But the moral of the story remains clear: we all have a story to tell - of loss, regret and yearning - and in telling it, we are all connected.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

From Booklist

This ninth novel, following Educating Waverly [BKL Ap 1 02], from the talented Kalpakian is so entertaining that readers will be blindsided by its emotional depth. Using the tried-and-true format of following diverse women brought together through an artificially imposed plot device--in this case, a memoir-writing class--the author tweaks her conventional material in any number of interesting ways. Shifting perspectives provide the back stories: a doctor grieving the loss of her husband and children to a plane crash, an adopted Korean businesswoman searching for her true identity, an upper-class suburbanite manically devoted to a husband who led a double life, etc., etc. As they grapple with elemental everywoman conflicts, excerpts from their memoirs add depth and salient details. Each woman eventually comes into clear focus through a combination of dialogue, straight narrative, and their individual writing styles. Although Kalpakian overreaches in places, by the time the women all come together in a triumphant final scene, in which past fears are forever vanquished, there won't be a dry eye in the house. A natural for book clubs. Joanne Wilkinson
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 288 pages
• Publisher: St. Martin's Press; 1st edition (January 27, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0312322755
• ISBN-13: 978-0312322755
• Product Dimensions: 9.3 x 6.4 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (16 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,563,195 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

20 of 22 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars "Misty Watercolor Memories", January 24, 2004

By 

Nancy Martin (Pennsylvania (orig. NY)) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Memoir Club (Hardcover)

This book was my first introduction to Kalpakian and I purchased it for two reasons...I was drawn to the beautiful cover and I was enticed by the premise of six women taking a college extension course in memoir writing and, consequently, forming friendships beyond the classroom. I had thoughts of two of my other favorite female "bonding" books -- The Saving Graces by Patricia Gaffney and Angry Housewives Eating Bon Bons by Lorna Landvik.

I think this book started off much slower than the two books I've already mentioned but once it got going, I simply could not put it down. I actually stayed up reading until 2:30AM because I couldn't go to sleep without knowing how it would end. It's much deeper than others I've read with similar premises yet Kalpakian doesn't dwell on the gloom and doom of some of their pasts. She instead celebrates their futures.

You definitely don't fall in love with these characters even though they're well drawn out by the author. Perhaps they're too real -- like anyone else you might meet in your daily life. There seems to be more meat in their stories (their memoirs) giving the author the ability to flesh them out without being too obvious about it.

Through the memoirs they're writing in their extension class, the reader gets to glimpse their past lives and it's a great way to go back in time within the confines of the book. The most interesting thing the women in the memoir class learn is that "the memoir is not and should never be confused with the truth...As a result, truth belongs to the teller." So, while the memoir is the "teller's" truth, it might not essentially be "the truth." While writing these memoirs, each of these women will come upon secrets in their past that might not be as truthful as they want their pasts to be.

I highly recommend this book and encourage the reader to join these women as they delve into their pasts and form a new future together at the same time.

I would, however, be remiss if I didn't mention something that almost ruined this book for me. In the first sentence of the "Acknowledgments", the author thanks her editor for her "wise editorial eye." My advice to her editor is twofold...get a pair of eyeglasses and go back and get a refresher course in English grammar. There are no less than twenty different errors in this book. When I hit the first one or two, I shook my head and moved on. When there got to be more than one on the same page, I got angry. If we as readers are willing to spend good money on a hardcover book, I realize that the publisher can't always guarantee that we'll love the story but they should be promising a well-edited book. Shame on you St. Martin's Press.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A Tender, Wise and Witty Page-Turner, April 3, 2004

By 

Bookreporter (New York, New York) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Memoir Club (Hardcover)

For very different reasons, six women sign up for a University extension course in memoir writing. Nurse Nell and Dr. Caryn Henley work at the Women's Uptown Clinic, and Nell has hoodwinked the grieving doctor into taking the class. Nell hopes it will help Caryn come to terms with the loss of her two children and estranged husband in a plane crash. Nell and Caryn's stories are arguably the central threads in the plot, certainly the most dramatic, but the other women we come to know also have compelling reasons to document their lives.

By the end of the official writing course, we know something of the conflicts each woman faces. Francine, a recent widow, volunteers her showcase home to meet every Wednesday evening and the enigmatic instructor Penny Martin agrees to extend the class for those who wish it. Francine's memoir, like her entire life, is devoted to fostering her husband's scientific reputation. "Marc's career was my career," she explains to the disapproving younger members of the group. But her requests for input from his colleagues yield more than she has bargained for, and they require a complete re-examination of her life.

Sarah Jane Perkins writes to confront her unorthodox upbringing. Jill McDougall writes to explore her Korean heritage. Rusty Meadows writes to explain herself to the daughter she gave up as an unwed teen. Caryn Henley writes (although not about her loss) for the same reason she works so hard at the Clinic: to get through the days without killing herself. As events unfold and the women reveal themselves to each other through their writing, they form strong bonds.

And boy, do events unfold! I wondered if this might be a "quiet" book, dealing mostly with revelation through reflection. But there is a heavy dose of action, centered on an anti-abortion wacko who targets the Women's Uptown Clinic. Ms. Kalpakian is every bit as skilled at describing gun battles as she is in describing the subtle epiphanies that accompany writing about the past.

The plot flows like the Skagit River that washes away Sarah Jane's childhood home. My only quibble with the novel was a bit of metaphysical fuss around the memoir teacher. For me it detracted from the satisfying real life dramas.

The author's pacing and masterful control of point of view captivated me. By the end I identified with all of the memoirists and tearfully agreed with Big Nell's parting sentiments: "Why shouldn't every day be an anniversary? Why shouldn't every summer be the last? Why shouldn't you say to yourself on any old day that rolls, ebbs, and flows into one another: I'm going to remember the light through these leaves, or the sound of the rain."

Overall THE MEMOIR CLUB is a tender, wise and witty page-turner. It deserves a wide readership.

--- Reviewed by Eileen Zimmerman Nicol

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Tale of six women, September 6, 2004

By 

Karen Potts (Lake Jackson, Texas) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Memoir Club (Hardcover)

A group of six women find themselves in a university extension class about writing memoirs. Their teacher is Penny Taylor, an irascible and somewhat mysterious woman who urges the women to open up and tell their most gut-wrenching secrets. Surface stories will not suffice. Penny bullies them until each of them tell their true stories. Two of the women, Caryn and Nell, are close friends. Nell has been supporting Caryn through a tragedy in her life and she feels that the class will serve as a catharsis for Caryn's grief. Francine has always been in her famous husband's shadow and after his death, a secret is revealed which causes her to seek an identity of her own. Jill is a woman born of Korean parents and adopted by an American couple who later divorce, causing great disruption in her family. Rusty still grieves over a daughter she gave up for adoption and Sarah Jane, copes with the influence her parents had on her. Author Kalpakian is at her best when she is developing and revealing the separate characters in the book. She falters when she inserts a mystical quality into the character of Penny and when she too-neatly wraps up the loose ends at the end of the book.