18 of 19 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Absolutely heart-breaking but written with love., January 1, 1998
This review is from: Searching for Mercy Street: My Journey Back to My Mother, Anne Sexton (Hardcover)
I could not put this book down. Linda Gray Sexton's honesty was enlightening. She portrayed her mother as more than a woman with a mental illness. It is a portrait of a smart intelligent woman struggling to find meaning in her mentally ill life who at times rises above it but eventually succumbs. It is evident that Anne loved her daughters, but showed it in atypical ways. After reading this book, I find myself very interested in the work of Anne Sexton and her life. It gives a fresh and candid glimpse at this amazingly talented, yet tragic woman and a daughter who struggled to make sense out of her mother's love.
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18 of 20 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Opened My Eyes, April 25, 1999
By A Customer
This review is from: Searching for Mercy Street: My Journey Back to My Mother, Anne Sexton (Hardcover)
I worked with Linda closely for a year when she had small children in the Mid-1980's. I was very touched and disturbed by this book. I found it to the point, but forgiving. I commend Linda for her resiliency and candor. I know that to write this book she had to rediscover many guarded memories. I encourage all to read it. Anne Sexton was a complicated, brilliant artist. Her life was fascinating to read about, especially from her daughter's intimate perpective. The poems that were included helped me to more fully understand the artist and woman through the different stages of her life. I hope Linda writes again.
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12 of 14 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Go hug your mom after reading this, August 14, 2005
This review is from: Searching for Mercy Street: My Journey Back to My Mother, Anne Sexton (Hardcover)
I read long ago the biography of Anne Sexton by Diane Middlebrook, and was very impressed by the tormented life of the poet. I also happened to read one of the novels written by her daughter, Linda Gray Sexton, "Points of Light", which I did not like all that much. So I had (I thought) an idea of who Linda was, both through the biography and her novel.
I was wrong. Searching for Mercy Street is truly what the subtitle claims: "A journey back to my mother". It gets so personal it is embarrassing at times. Linda goes into a lot of detail as to why she revealed things that you would never want anybody outside of your family to know, and it makes sense, and yet it doesn't. I have never read a better account of life with another person. It is not 100% chronological, but it is rich in detail and clarity. I read it with the anticipation I have sometimes when reading a very interesting novel.
Long time ago a friend said: "Your parents are probably the only people that you may love even if you don't like them". I have thought about that comment quite a bit over the years. Linda was conflicted over the relationship she had with her mother. There was the void of not having had a mom in the general sense of the term, not so much a June Cleaver, but more someone who takes care of you, looks after you, helps you, loves you. There was the abuse. And mingled with everything else, there was the unconditional love. The complexities of mental illness are true and clear and never better represented than in this story. I have to wonder: how much of Anne's behavior was pure selfishness, and how much was her disease?
I had to cry at some of the stuff, because you know the pain was real and strong, and there was no prettifying any of the horrible things that went on at that household. And at the same time I had to smile at certain things, like the tenderness in the relationship between Linda and her father. It was heartwarming, among all the raw pain.
The choice of photos complemented the writing perfectly. I loved reading this memoir, pain and sordid details and all.
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