Book Review- Matt Logelin's Two Kisses for Maddy

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In March of 2008, Matthew Logelin suddenly lost his high school sweetheart and wife, Liz, to a pulmonary embolism just twenty-seven hours after she had given birth to their first child, Maddy. In his grief, Logelin took to candidly blogging about his emotions and fears.  Logelin's blog ended up becoming a sensation, as readers from all around the world connected with struggles. 

Logelin's memoir Two Kisses for Maddy was made possible through the  unwitting success of his blog. The book is dedicated to Maddy and serves as a more formal approach to documenting his relationship with Liz, her death and his first years as a single parent. Although more structured than a blog, it is not writing without raw emotion. Logelin is not a writer by trade, he fell into this new career through tragedy. He has tons of talent, but it's raw and i feel as a reader, this is what I responded to so strongly. He's not polished, swears often and doesn't sugarcoat or sentimentalize memories. Logelin has a knack for writing in a genuine voice.

I seem to pick a lot of books having to do with loss and grieving. It's therapeutic. Logelin's story had some odd parallel time from to grief that i experienced in my own life.  Liz and Matt are my age. Liz died in Pasadena, just a six weeks after my mom died just miles away in a Glendale Hospital. Just by the descriptions of places, I am fairly certain that they lived in a nearby neighborhood. My heart skipped a beat when Logelin mentioned a doctor Wada on Liz's death certificate. My mom has the same name on hers. Even though the circumstances are very different, there are a lot of commonalities with grief and processes that you need to attend to when a loved one dies. I think knowing that their family was experiencing grief at the same time as mine and  in a local community, gave me pause.

i connected a lot on a different level. My father died when i was four and I really don't remember him. There are so many ways to handle the issue, but i loved  and respected how Logelin used his memoir as a legacy for Maddy. He did Liz and Maddy justice, by writing Liz as a real person, not just letting her death elevate her into a saintly figure. One day, when Maddy is old enough, she will read this and know that she had amazing parents who loved her and each other so much. The stories of her parents courtship will not be distorted through time. i wish that i had more information on my parents and who they were before i came along. I feel like this book is such an amazing gift. it gave me perspective into fears that my mom must have experienced as a single parent, but that i was never privy to. 

Parts of this book were sad and difficult to read, but I ultimately walked away thinking that this was such a positive, uplifting story. Maddy is so lucky to have an amazing father and Matt is so lucky to be blessed with a great kid. I loved the pictures of two of them globe trotting and visiting places that were special to Liz. 

Book Review- Cheryl Strayed's Wild (From Lost to Found on the Pacific Crest Trail)

Cheryl Strayed's memoir Wild is exactly the type of book that appeals to me. I love stories of people setting off on adventures and I also feel connected to stories of grief and attempts to find a place in the world.

After her mother's death, Strayed found herself in her early twenties and falling apart. Her once close-knit family took an isolationist approach to grief and grew distant. Strayed dropped out of college just shy of graduation, cheated on her husband and turned to heroin. She found a guide-book to backpacking the Pacific Crest Trail, a trail that stretches from Mexico to Canada and although inexperienced, decided to give it a shot.

Strayed saved money from waitressing jobs, bought what she thought was proper gear and planned ahead, parceling out money and supplies sent ahead to post offices along the route. She decided to spend a few months along the trail from Death Valley, California to Portland Oregon. Strayed soon learned all of the book information and hiking tips from REI, did not adequately prepare her for this journey.

The brilliance in this memoir is Strayed ability to write about her life in a way that is so relatable. She exposes herself, warts and all, and her vulnerability makes her so likeable. It made me root for her to succeed on her journey, even though she has made some monumental mistakes in her life. She doesn't gloss over the spousal cheating and drug use. She doesn't make excuses or ask the reader to forgive her. She just exposes herself and it makes the reader accept her past, but love her for the person that she will become, as we get to be part of watching the transformation.

This book is exciting. It's filled with plenty of action and tense moments, as the trail is a harsh place and Strayed is definitely unprepared. Besides Strayed's story, the book is interesting because it exposes a subset of society, those who backpack on these trails. It's a culture and it's fascinating. Strayed makes plenty of friends on her adventure and each has an interesting story of why they are on the PCT. The PCT is its own character that's constantly changing and filled with surprises.

Strayed's memoir is rooted in grief and is very healing. It made me cry, in several places. I had been reading it during my lunch breaks at work, but found it to be so emotional, that I finished it in the privacy of my home. The emotional passages hit me like a ton of bricks and were hard to predict where they would fall in the book. They are profound and sprinkled throughout. Strayed is very self-aware and has a knack for keen observations often leading to profound statements.

This book is a must read.