TITLE: Smile for the Camera
AUTHOR: Kelle James
GENRE: YA memoir
RATING: 3 stars
I love reading memoirs and I am always impressed with the courage it takes to actually put down on paper your own life experiences – both the good and the ugly.
Having said that, I am not quite sure what to think of Smile for the Camera actually. While I do admire the author for being brave enough to write a memoir, I found myself trying to figure out the contents of this book.
Firstly, it is not really written in a particularly ‘user friendly’ manner. By that I mean that the author will begin by describing an event or episode and then sort of wander off into some kind of ‘stream of thought prose’ which may highly significant to her, but left me both confused and a little cold.
It felt to me as though the author never really delves all that deeply into her current experiences, rather choosing to compare them (by going back and forth between the present and the past – a writing technique which I HATE). Her writing usually ends up leaving me wanting more information about what she is living now.
While I realize that writing a memoir is partly about healing, I found this book to be a difficult read at times.
Having said all that, I found myself completely amazed at her life experiences in New York and loved, loved the Patience and Fortitude story.
This was not a horrible read, but it also could have been better.
1 comment:
I love memoirs, but I don't think that one's for me.
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