~~ Month of Memoirs ~~
In 1977, Terri Jentz and her college roommate embarked on an adventure to bike cross-country one summer. In a desert in Oregon, the two pitched a tent overnight. While inside, a man deliberately drove a pickup truck over the tent with the two women inside, then attacked the women with an ax. Miraculously, both women survived the attack, one with complete amnesia about the event; Jentz with her memories painfully intact. The crime remained unsolved. Fifteen years later, Jentz returned to the town to try to identify her would-be murderer. Not only did many of the people in town know the identity of the criminal, but he still lived and worked among them. The fight to solve her crime and face her assailant becomes a fight to find herself and find a way to live with the aftermath of such a violent and unprovoked crime. This is one of the hardest books I’ve ever read, but also one that sticks with me years later. The writing builds tension like the most skillfully written thriller.
Well-Read Neck 