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I was immediately hooked by the synopsis of this book. Anything ruminating on parent-child relationships and dynamics is bound to pique my interest.
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Ford’s childhood was a difficult one. Her father was incarcerated when she was very young for a terrible crime, something Ford has to grapple with once she discovers what it was later in life. Her father’s absence looms over her family life as she grows up with a single mother who often resorted to violence. Ford unpacks her relationships with her siblings, mother and grandmother with an unflinching honesty. She strikes a fine balance between observing and writing about the relationships seemingly from a distance, looking back in hindsight, while also retaining the warmth and familiarity you’d expect when writing about the complex and messy thing that is family.
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There is a big trigger warning for rape and sexual assault within this memoir, as Ford recounts her own trauma she endured as a young girl and teenager at the hands of a family friend and boyfriend. She writes about the way young girls, especially young Black girls, are considered mature ahead of their time. Ford is constantly criticised for the clothes she wears when she’s still a girl, made to feel like it’s her fault that grown men stare and think her body is theirs to do with what they want. Young girls are constantly made to feel this way and it’s so important that we stand up and push back against it, like Ford did here.
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I might have liked more on her college years, but a memoir I’d recommend nonetheless!