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Rivers spins numerous riveting stories over sixteen chapters, an introduction, and an author's note. Some highlights include conception by the rape of an Apache Indian mother, inheriting alcoholic genes, adoption from a Catholic orphanage in Michigan, prostitution, hitchhiking, assault by a boyfriend, broken promises, being lied to by a married man; looking for work, a rodeo under a full moon, selling Indian wares, dancing in clubs in Florida, having nine husbands, moving to Alaska to start a new life, losing a son, visiting a fortune teller to get some psychic help in the search for a biological family, a new life as a Jehovah's Witness, a biker wedding in a clubhouse, and all the other secrets she feels fit to tell. What becomes clear throughout the narrative is how it is truly possible to turn negative experiences into positive spiritual growth. Photographs, beginning with a baby picture, also help tell the story.
The author's book is excellent in showing how fostering creativity can offer respite and a way to transcend squalor, trauma, and pain. When taken to dancing lessons, she had no idea that the recitals she entered would be the start of a lifetime career. The book also has cross-cultural appeal. For example, many from different backgrounds might relate to the violation one feels when a mother reads a diary where sexual fantasies and plans are exposed. Finally, the book documents the struggles of being an unwanted witness to the sexual escapades of a man who takes a four-year-old girl upstairs with him to shower. This extended predicament is very well written and could help others identify their own dilemmas in similar situations.
RECOMMENDED by the US Review