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krista_lm's reviews
277 reviews
Wavewalker: Breaking Free by Suzanne Heywood
adventurous
tense
slow-paced
4.75
I've seen this compared to Educated, that excellent memoir by Tara Westover, and I do think it fits into the category of "escaping from the family cult" memoir.
And yet, it is different. Suzanne's parents are not religious at all. If it's a cult, it's one of personality only. The book is long, slow-paced, and the abuse she endures is not so....how to say...extreme? In your face? As she tells the story, she doesn't stop to dwell on such moments. They happen, they pass by like the waves...and then a couple pages later you're like, "Wait, WHAT. That wasn't okay at all." It reminds me that people can look one way to everyone else, but if you live with them, you know what they truly are, and even their "innocent" actions and phrases can spark feelings of helplessness and dread.
Suzanne is a good and thoughtful writer. She feels engaged in her own story. I can sense how doing the research for this story (which she describes in the last chapter) helped her to process her childhood and face things she had avoided for a long time. It felt like an honor to be let into that intimate process.
If you like memoirs, and especially ones about escaping cults and having the tenacity to learn (I forgot to mention her parents absolutely neglected her education) and make one's way in the world in spite of the hand you've been dealt ... this is one for you.
And yet, it is different. Suzanne's parents are not religious at all. If it's a cult, it's one of personality only. The book is long, slow-paced, and the abuse she endures is not so....how to say...extreme? In your face? As she tells the story, she doesn't stop to dwell on such moments. They happen, they pass by like the waves...and then a couple pages later you're like, "Wait, WHAT. That wasn't okay at all." It reminds me that people can look one way to everyone else, but if you live with them, you know what they truly are, and even their "innocent" actions and phrases can spark feelings of helplessness and dread.
Suzanne is a good and thoughtful writer. She feels engaged in her own story. I can sense how doing the research for this story (which she describes in the last chapter) helped her to process her childhood and face things she had avoided for a long time. It felt like an honor to be let into that intimate process.
If you like memoirs, and especially ones about escaping cults and having the tenacity to learn (I forgot to mention her parents absolutely neglected her education) and make one's way in the world in spite of the hand you've been dealt ... this is one for you.