Kirkus Review
The first wreck is the car crash that lands the authors parents in the hospital, her mother with 80 broken bones, her father in a coma. The second wreck is Shapiros own lifea life that for much of the book makes it hard to sympathize with her. At the age of 23, in the mid- 1980s, she is a cocaine-snorting, liquor-swilling, aspiring-actress babe and the mistress of her former best friends stepfather. Having dropped out of college, this product of an Orthodox Jewish home is kept in style by a boorish hotshot lawyer. He buys her furs, jewels, and sports cars, and she numbs her scorn for both him and herself with drugs and alcohol. One feels equal parts pity and revulsion that such an intelligent, beautiful young woman can live such a vapid and amoral life. Shapiros saving grace is that she is equally repulsed in retrospect, making no excuses for her bad behavior. And, with her parents horrific accident as a wake-up call, as Shapiro gains respect for herself, the reader gains respect for her, as well. The portrait of her family, and of her mother in particular, is as unsparing as her self-portraitno airbrushing hides the ugliness of the anger that drives her mother: she is incandescent, lit from within by a rage she has carried all her life, and which, at the moment of the crash, became her life source. It will force Shapiro to become estranged from her fathers family at the time she needs them most. Novelist Shapiro (Picturing the Wreck, 1996, etc.) too often settles for clichés when she is capable of evocative and original prose, but her story accumulates emotional power as a lost young woman finds her way back to normalcy and a sense of purpose.
Booklist Review
A horrific automobile accident that left both her parents barely alive was a wake-up call of profound dimensions for Shapiro. In the wake of this tragic event, Shapiro's own escalating course of self-destruction could no longer be denied--she was mistress to a prominent and extravagant attorney (a married, older man), stalled in her acting career, dependent on alcohol and drugs, and deeply disconnected from her Orthodox Jewish roots. Shame had caused her to share less and less of her life with her parents. Through the process of facing her father's death two weeks after the accident and involvement in her mother's prolonged recovery from injuries, including more than 80 bone fractures, Shapiro found within herself the resources necessary to restore her own life to one with hope and meaning. This is a deeply moving memoir, written without a trace of self-pity. The inspiration of the story is fully equaled by the quality of three-time novelist Shapiro's taut yet richly introspective writing, making this book both a literary and personal triumph. --Grace Fill
Library Journal Review
Successful novelist Shapiro (Picturing the Wreck, Doubleday, 1996) details the tumult and rebirth she experienced in early adulthood, illustrating how one tragedy can prevent another from happening. Things didn't look good when, relying on drugs and alcohol to drive her through life, Shapiro dropped out of college to become an actress and continue her love affair with her best friend's stepfather, a flashy New York attorney. Then, a tragic car accident that left both her parents in critical condition supplied a much-needed impetus for change. As Shapiro nursed her parents, she rebuilt her own life, eventually returning to college, establishing herself as a writer, and embracing the traditional Orthodox Jewish upbringing she had previously rejected. This absorbing story, written with humor and honesty, is a good choice for sophisticated young adults. [This book was excerpted in the August 24/31, 1998 issue of The New Yorker.ÄEd.]ÄJoyce Sparrow, Oldsmar Lib., FL (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
