Show Me the Way: A Memoir in Stories [Hardcover]

Jennifer Lauck (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: April 6, 2004

Carl Jung said, "Children are driven, unconsciously, in a direction that is intended to compensate for everything that was left unfulfilled in the life of their parents." It is this very statement that haunts Jennifer Lauck, and inspires Show Me the Way, a marvelous book of honest, funny, and touching stories from the trenches of motherhood.

Having lost both of her parents at an early age, Jennifer Lauck, acclaimed author of the memoir Blackbird, as well as its follow-up, Still Waters, has in Show Me the Way come to terms with her past in order to move forward as a mother to her own children.

A luminous writer who is always observing, whose self-examination is frank, poignant, and never cloying, Lauck's stories touch upon themes common to so many of her readers: labor, delivery, and the physical details of giving birth; the decision to have a second child; the struggle to maintain independence against the pull of motherhood; the tenuous work/life balancing act; the gossamer threads holding family together; the soul-defining nature of caring for children; and the ultimate surrender of finally "getting it."

Illustrating the author's wonderful insight, irreverence, and core of inner strength, Show Me the Way is a book for all mothers, and a rewarding conclusion for fans of Jennifer Lauck.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

For best selling author Jennifer Lauck, confronting the unfinished business of childhood is the most important step toward motherhood. Her earlier books, Blackbird and Still Waters detailed breathtaking losses, including the early death of her parents, her brother's suicide, sexual abuse, and unsuccessful attempts to reach her birth mother. In this memoir of short stories, Lauck reveals a gallant and inspiring process of creating meaning in her painful legacy. Lauck's vivid scenes from memory and motherhood evoke psychologist Selma Fraiberg's idea of the "ghosts in the nursery." Scenarios range from subtle to disturbing to slapstick with her sense of humor always intact. She describes how nipple shields saved the day and the diamond studded, power-suited woman in Starbuck's who watched in horror as Lauck reached for a vomit stained wallet while her children spilled a sea of chocolate milk on the table. She writes, "My juggling act is over. I am the poster of the anti-mother who makes the case for contraception." Lauck is a gifted, engaging writer who leads readers to the busy intersection where parenting and personal history meet. While the details of Lauck's story are strikingly unique, every mother will identify with her unvarnished view of motherhood and with the self-discovery that awaits each parent. --Barbara Mackoff

From Publishers Weekly

Lauck tells of her struggle to raise her children and come to terms with the circumstances of her own harrowing upbringing in short, captivating stories alternating between past and present. This is Lauck's third book, and it focuses less on her past than did Blackbird and its follow-up, Still Waters. The author recaps her life in snippets related to her present status as a wife and mother of two children. Her childhood was hard, to say the least: her mother died when she was seven, her father when she was nine, and her brother committed suicide in her first year of college; yet she's levelheaded and conscientious about the way her past will play out in relation to raising children. At one point she describes her laborâ€""A deep pain digs at my back and catches my breath. I want to keep looking back, but I can't anymore"â€"essentially summing up her theory that it's important not to endow children with parental history. Lauck is not self-indulgent and does not invoke pity; she does, however, command respect and provide inspiration as she honestly continues to teach herself how to be a mother, all the while fighting to listen to intuition. Through this exploration of motherhood, she ends up teaching readers something about raising children, keeping in mind that no matter how hard a parent tries to prevent it, a child is inevitably affected by his or her parents' past.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 288 pages
• Publisher: Atria (April 6, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0743476387
• ISBN-13: 978-0743476386
• Product Dimensions: 8.8 x 5.8 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 13.4 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (11 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,215,924 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

This is me, Jennifer Lauck, and I have been a writer since I was seventeen years old. My Honor English teacher, at Mead Sr. High in Spokane, Washington discovered my gift. Karla Nuxoll told me to become a writer, "you are that good," she said.

I paid attention to Karla, enrolled in journalism classes in college and went on to become an investigative journalist in Montana, Washington and Oregon.

Finally, I stopped working in news in the 90's and began the investigation of a lifetime-one that took me into the very interior of my soul.

The results of that trek were the books Blackbird, Still Waters and Show Me the Way. My final memoir, Found, is now available here on Amazon!

Found: A Memoir with the remarkable and generous Seal Press, wraps up a fifteen year quest to knowing myself, which ends when I find the woman who gave me life but was forced to put me up for adoption. In finding my mother, I found what had been missing from my life--an identity! I am now writing a novel on dreams and producing essays on mothering, life, spirituality and wholeness.

I live in Oregon and am blessed with two children, Josephine and Spencer.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

18 of 18 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Heartwarming, not heartbreaking, May 2, 2004

By 

E. Griffin (Wilton, CT, USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Show Me the Way: A Memoir in Stories (Hardcover)

Show Me the Way is Jennifer Lauck?s third memoir, and continues to demonstrate her fine writing skills. Jennifer has an amazing ability to examine the best and worst of humankind through the eyes of her life, communicating tremendous joy and grief with clarity and honesty.

Blackbird: A Childhood Lost and Found is the story of Lauck?s early childhood, which began with adoption by two loving parents and quickly slid into horrible abuse after their deaths. Stillwaters follows Jennifer to her adoption by her father?s sister and through adolescence where resentment and anger took the place of love, caring, and compassion. Through both of these books, the reader senses Jennifer marking time until adulthood, freedom, and independence.

Show Me the Way delivers the next step of Jennifer?s journey as she and her husband start a family. Jennifer faces many of the same challenges as other women that are attempting to balance the roles of mother, wife, lover, and self. Interspersed with Jennifer?s depiction of the physical emotion of childbirth and rearing are recollections of Jennifer?s own childhood and the loss of her parents. The reader can almost feel Jennifer reaching back in time to her mother and father, both requesting and sending love and acceptance. Approaching the birth of her second child, Jennifer seeks to make sure her son will never hurt his younger sister. Wrapped through these conversations is the love Jennifer?s brother was afraid to feel and her sadness at his suicide in his early twenties.

After searching for adulthood for so long, Jennifer finally finds discovers it comes in fragments like fighting for your children with the pediatrician, or embracing a moment of child induced chaos during a Starbucks morning filled with people eager to get to their offices.

Show Me the Way is not as gripping or heartrending in the same way as Blackbird or Stillwaters, and it should not be. It would be too simplistic to call Jennifer a survivor, for her spirit and ability to envelope the reader into her heart is something more. Although Show Me the Way is strong enough to stand on its own, it is best read after Jennifer?s first two books so the reader can live Jennifer?s journey with her.

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Complex, stirring, intense, May 25, 2004

By A Customer

This review is from: Show Me the Way: A Memoir in Stories (Hardcover)

With her flawless writing and sure hand, Lauck tells a painful story that isn't maudlin and doesn't beg for sympathy -- it just is. If you liked this book, you might try "An Egg on Three Sticks" by Jackie Moyer Fischer, "Sights Unseen" by Kaye Gibbons, and "A Girl in Parts" by Jasmine Paul.

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Stunning!, May 14, 2004

By A Customer

This review is from: Show Me the Way: A Memoir in Stories (Hardcover)

Show Me the Way is a gorgeously written memoir for real mothers everywhere. The stories weave together seamlessly into a true picture of motherhood, with its highs and lows. I recommend this highly.