As I've been reading this book, I've thought to myself about what the purpose of writing a memoir is. For most people, it's a way to get out your story: your thoughts, ideas, passions, regrets, hopes, failures, and so on. Memoirs are usually thought to be self centered and solely about the writer and are presented in a way that makes you understand the person better. I have realized in the last two chapters that although Kristen writes about herself and her family and the experiences she's had, I don't see any self centeredness in her memoir at all. She presents the information as a matter-of-fact kind of way. She writes facts about the weapons plant alongside facts about her life but neither overshadows the other. It's obvious by reading the text that she has been through a great deal of stress and trauma and really just astonishing events that most of us can't imagine happening to us. She's been through so much and yet, when she writes her story, she stays factual and doesn't let her emotions seep in too much where it sounds whiny or overpowering with depressing material. I'm not at all saying that she is a non-feeling robot, but I am amazed by the strength she's exemplified by writing her experiences down this way.
I think that Iverson's goal was not to tell about how hard her life was or a pity party type story to get people to feel sorry for her, but it was to tell the facts of what happened while she was growing up in such an awful place full of secrets and traumatic experiences that were hidden under layers of deceit.
I agree, I also noticed that even when talking about her own life, she is quite detached. To me, it seems like a defense mechanism almost, an attempt to escape the pain. She was raised, after all, by people who ignored even the most obvious things about their own lives in an attempt to be blissfully happy. It seems as if she is doing the same, ignoring the obvious emotions she should be feeling, in hopes of being blissful.
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