Momentum: A Memoir

Canvassing a landscape of neglect, ambiguity, fear, loss, love, and compromise, Emily Brown’s Momentum is a memoir ready to challenge expectations. While shifting between her childhood and adult memories, Brown unearths the game of playing pretend as a family and the irreversible impact it left on her.

Brown begins the journey by recounting her Uncle Bib’s memorial, an experience that profoundly shapes the narrative. Here, she sets the stage for her interactions with her family: Brown’s vulnerability and affection is always met with a lack of cooperation. From there, Brown jumps through her memories, showing readers the gap between her challenging upbringing and her acceptance of the state of her familial relationships.

While remaining true to the integrity of events, Brown’s story is original and engaging. Masterfully capturing the distortion caused by her parents’ divorce, she opens up about how the need to keep up as a young girl caused both rifts with her mother, and mental and physical alienation. Later, Brown’s teenage years are disrupted by constantly being uprooted, forcing her to adapt to new environments and expectations. The way she deconstructs her turbulent upbringing is reminiscent of Jeanette Walls’s The Glass Castle. As the walls close in on Brown’s life, the reader, too, desperately craves escape from the cramped life, which makes Brown lose her footing more than once. Forced to make space for herself, Brown carves one out, one word at a time.

Throughout the narrative, Brown’s voice is always recognizable amidst the impressionable and vibrant personalities in the memoir. She beautifully intertwines the harshness of reality with a deeply personal narrative that draws the reader in. Her vulnerability and willingness to share her life make this memoir deeply intimate. The sensitive and self-aware voice provides an opportune moment for readers to reflect upon unanswered questions.

U.C. Berkeley in 1974 provides a striking backdrop for Brown’s recollections, one that initially feels full of promise. However, the surrounding socio-political climate, exposure to violence, and the dismissal of traumatic experiences make some sections difficult to read at times. Brown’s involvement with the Democratic Workers Party (DWP) is far from brief, and the narrative reflects that depth of commitment. The detailed accounts of her experiences and actions within the DWP begin to dominate the pages, at times overwhelming the sense of belonging that initially drew her in. As the memoir progresses, Brown’s role shifts from observer to active participant, with her thoughts evolving into actions as she attempts to create change and avoid future regret.

Brown’s experiences indicate a wealth of material, and at times the narrative risks feeling unfocused. While she works to maintain cohesion by elaborating on key moments and providing context, this effort does not always fully resolve the sense of narrative sprawl and so the memoir occasionally feels weighed down by its breadth, with certain sections competing for attention rather than building toward a clear throughline. Even so, Brown’s reflective voice helps anchor the story, guiding the reader through its complexity.

Taking charge of her narrative, Brown’s Momentum is a journey to witness and celebrate. A compelling exploration of self-doubt and strained familial relationships, it offers a deeply personal narrative with wide-reaching resonance. Momentum is a memoir whose contents truly reflect the title: once you pick it up, you won’t be able to put it down.

—CANREADS BOOK REVIEW

Purchase Momentum: A Memoir at FriesenPress

www.emily-brown.com