My Amazon and Goodreads review of This is How We Leave by Joanne Nelson (Rating 5) – Learning When, and Why, to Stay. Joanne Nelson’s memoir This is How We Leave, is about saying goodbye to a past that was far from good and accepting that the present doesn’t have to be perfect to be good enough. Nelson reveals the ghosts of her childhood with refreshing, and sometimes uncomfortable, honesty. As a writer (see my Amazon author page and Goodreads author page), I appreciated the authenticity of her prose as she invites readers to accompany her on this searching journey. Generations of people in Nelson’s family left: the men physically; the women, including the author, emotionally; and her mother absenting herself in alcoholism. Although her home was plagued by physical abuse and drinking, readers from a variety of dysfunctional families will recognize elements of theirs in Nelson’s childhood struggle to understand why hers differed from that of her peers, and her adult need to belong. Without sugar coating or sentimentality, Nelson’s journey arrives at a satisfying place that doesn’t entail denial, withdrawal, or running away.
