Memoir by By Maggie O’Farrell
3 stars
This was really teed up for 2 stars, until the final two chapters completely crushed me. So I met in the middle.
It’s a memoir told through a series of near death experiences, and towards the latter half of the book I found myself wanting to scream STOP GOING OPEN WATER SWIMMING.
Each of the stories is touching and gorgeously written, but eventually I wanted more of a narrative around who Maggie O’Farrell is. I wanted more of a standard memoir.
But those final two chapters really hit hard. They felt more honest than the rest of the book and definitely left their mark on me. The series of sketches that accompany the chapters (as above) were also quite lovely. 3 stars.
