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17 of 17 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Courageous Writing, November 2, 2009
This review is from: Musical Chairs (Paperback)
"Musical Chairs" is Jen Knox's gutsy autobiographical story. It is also the weaving together of four generations of family pain and coping into a tapestry rich in that most elusive quality - the truly human.
This is a no-holds-barred book. Knox is painfully honest about herself, her past, and her battles with anxiety, restlessness, and booze. She doesn't offer rationalizations, psychobabble, or excuses. Instead, she looks for and finds the strength that comes from facing life with honesty and acceptance.
If, at times, the reader is reminded of Camus at his best, it is because Knox too finds meaning within the helpless, repetitive pointlessness which is the human condition. And, if at times, the reader feels like the author's pain and struggle are reminiscent of Kafka, it is because "Musical Chairs" is told with an attention to detail that make every moment burn itself into consciousness.
I would recommend this book to every reader. I would particularly urge it for every young woman who feels ready to take responsibility for her own life. And, if it were in my power, I would make sure it was given to every teenaged girl who attends or should be attending AlaTeen or ALANON; for this is a book which offers much to those who would choose to learn. (Kenneth Weene, PhD, author and psychologist)
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16 of 16 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Musical Chairs: One of the Most Intelligent Memoirs in Years, December 17, 2009
This review is from: Musical Chairs (Paperback)
This is a gripping, well-paced and clearly written coming-of-age story, in which a young woman finds her voice, her balance, her connectedness with her grandmother--but to get to the point of self-confidence and voice, she must go through her own personal hell. The narrator was a teenage runaway who worked as a stripper for a short time. Her intelligent self-awareness during that phase of her life is inspiring, and yes, very sensual,
This book reminds me of Catcher in the Rye, though the book in hand is creative nonfiction. It's about time we had a heroine who's smart, sassy, brave, ready to deal with adversity from within her own mind and from the external world. I'm also reminded of Jeannette Walls's The Glass Castle, which features another spunky articulate female narrator. Wall's book is a best-seller, and Jen Knox's book should be too.
I wish my sister had had this book when my niece began to experience a long series of troubles. No one in the convoluted health care system had much to offer. Luckily my niece was able to clean up and to survive dangerous streets. She is a painter and has landed on her feet with her visionary art.
For the narrator in Musical Chairs, words are the angels, hard-won.
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9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Although Knox doesn't hit the highest level, she shows a great deal of promise, November 1, 2009
This review is from: Musical Chairs (Paperback)
This is a true story of a restless adolescent with an overwhelming desire to move and explore. In this sense, she is a great deal like her great-grandmother; another person that often felt the powerful call to go elsewhere. While life with her parents was strained and they divorced, there was no extreme hostility or abuse that led to her running away. Knox then wandered from job to job, working at everything from a stripper to cosmetology. She also was heavily engaged to the dubious mistress of alcohol, spending a great deal of time under the influence. In a family with a history of mental illness in the female line, Knox also suffers from acute panic attacks, although if this can be considered an expression of her mental illness, it is mild compared to the problems of her ancestors.
During her sojourn, Knox meets many people, some of which are helpful, others that only appear to be and some that are hostile. There are boyfriends, relationships and some good times, although her life is mostly just getting by in a world where her foundation is alcohol. Her parents are aware of what she is doing and where she is living, while they provide some aid; generally they keep their hands off her life. To some their lack of forceful intervention would appear to be parental irresponsibility, although to me it was clear that had they tried to be more controlling, Knox would have simply ran out of sight.
Knox is a good writer telling a good story, she shows a great deal of promise without reaching the high bar. If you take away the mental illness of her relatives, her story is similar to what could be told by many teenage girls, including some in my family. Rebellion against parents is a natural event and many run, but never far enough away from their parents so that they are out of sight. It is as if they keep them as a safety valve in case they manage to land in the really deep stink.
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