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Feb
02
Book Review: The Mighty Queens of Freeville by Amy Dickinson
2009 at 11am Posted by Rebecca Joines Schinsky
Set for publication February 3, 2009 from Hyperion Books
I got here the hard way, by living a life and making my share of mistakes. I took the long way home, driving the back roads through marriage and divorce and raising a child on my own. But I got here with my family watching my back, with my hometown community influencing me and accepting my choices and enfolding me in their prickly embrace.
The Mighty Queens of Freeville: A Mother, A Daughter, and the People Who Raised Them is Amy Dickinson’s memoir of growing up—and being a grown-up—in small-town America. Her hometown of Freeville, New York is “located on the northern fringes of Appalachia, in the rural and worn-out landscape of upstate New York. It’s a town with one stop sign, anchored by a church, post office, elementary school, and a gas station.” It’s a town where you know all of the neighbors (and you’re related to many of them), and where community and family are valued above all else.
Dickinson, who writes the popular advice column Ask Amy, tells us early on that her family is built on a foundation of strong women.
In my family, the women tend to do the heavy lifting while the men—well, the men are nice and find and they love us for a time. Then at some point, it seems that they tire of their indeterminate role in our lives, so they wage a campaign of passive resistance, and then they leave.
Shortly after the birth of her daughter Emily, Dickinson’s husband, a journalist accustomed to living and traveling in foreign countries, followed family tradition and ended their marriage. He moved to Russia with his girlfriend, leaving Dickinson alone (and living in London at the time) to face the daunting prospect of single parenthood. When she returned to Freeville to collect herself, Dickinson found herself surrounded by the women who had raised her, women “who led small lives of great cosnequence in the tiny place we call home.”
The Mighty Queens of Freeville chronicles Dickinson’s experiences surviving divorce and single parenthood and struggling to find herself and make a life for herself and her daughter. As she and her daughter raise each other, she learns important lessons about family, faith, forgiveness, and priorities. She learns that
Single parenthood is hard, but it’s simple too.
You just do everyhing yourself.
Surrounded by her “family of women who have a lot to say,” Dickinson finds her own voice and gradually uncovers the answers to the two hardest questions: “Who am I and What do I want?” As she juggles life in Washington, DC and Freeville, has her fair share of dating disasters, and reminds herself of the beauty of her faith and the importance of introducing her daughter to God, she comes into her own….just in time to see her daughter off to college.
The Mighty Queens of Freeville is full of quirky stories and insightful thoughts on life. It will make you laugh out loud. It will make you smile as you recognize characters familiar from your own life, and it will bring tears to your eyes as you remember the difficult moments of your own life. More than anything else, this book will make you want to pick up the phone and call your mother, favorite aunt, and closest girlfriends and tell them exactly how much you love and appreciate them. It will remind you that,
Sometimes people love you despite your dorkitude—and sometimes, if you’re really lucky, they love you because of it.
And it will make you reflect on the Mighty Queens you know, the women “who grabbed shovels and push brooms and swept up after the tempests” of your own life. Dickinson credits her family with her success as an advice columnist, saying “In my family, the advice flows downward, and I’m at the bottom of the hill holding a bucket,” but The Mighty Queens of Freeville makes it clear that she has lived and learned a great deal on her own and that she has great wisdom to share. I thoroughly enjoyed this book, which I read in one sitting, and I’d recommend it primarily to women readers who enjoy memoirs, humor, and quiet meditations on faith and family. This would also be a Mother’s Day or “just because” gift for the women who shaped your life and propped you up in the hard times. 4 out of 5.
Visit the official Mighty Queens of Freeville website.
No related posts.
You are spot-on regarding the Mother’s Day gift….I think it would be perfect for that!
[...] Book Review: The Mighty Queens of Freeville by Amy Dickinson [...]
I enjoyed this one as well!
[...] Amy Dickinson on NPR Posted on February 10, 2009 by Rebecca @ The Book Lady’s Blog Author Amy Dickinson appeared on NPR’s All Things Considered earlier this week to read from and discuss her new memoir The Mighty Queens of Freeville (my review.) [...]
[...] (The Valentine Edition)139. She is Too Fond of Books (Testimony)140. Kristi (Scrapping Plans)141. The Book Lady’s Blog (The Mighty Queens of Freeville) 142. The Book Lady’s Blog (Cutting for Stone)143. Queen Shenaynay (Seeking the Face of God) [...]
[...] 1. The Little Giant of Aberdeen County (The Book Lady’s Blog)2. The List: 100 Ways to Shake Up Your Life (The Book Lady’s Blog)3. The Little Giant of Aberdeen County (At Home With Books)4. Little Giant of Aberdeen County (3M)5. The School of Essential Ingredients (Megan)6. The Millionaire Fake Fiance (Erotic Horizon)7. Back To Black Point (Erotic Horizon)8. Bodyguard: Loving The Boss9. Corner Shop (The Book Lady’s Blog)10. Love and Other Natural Disasters (The Book Lady’s Blog)11. Leftover Dead (Lori)12. In The Dark (Lori)13. Bronx Justice (Lori)14. Fed Up (Lori)15. American Rust (Nicola)16. The Lost City of Z (Nicola)17. Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet (Nicola)18. Love and Other Natural Disasters (S. Krishna)19. The Little Giant of Aberdeen County (Nely)20. Reading the OED (The Book Lady’s Blog)21. A Guide to the Birds of East Africa (The Book Lady’s Blog)22. Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet (The Book Lady’s Blog)23. For the Love of Pete (Kristi – books and needlepoint)24. Dawnkeepers (Christina)25. Blonde Roots (At Home With Books)26. Random Acts of Heroic Love (At Home With Books)27. Super in the City (S. Krishna)28. Eat, Drink and Be From Mississippi (S. Krishna)29. In Other Rooms, Other Wonders (S. Krishna)30. The Mighty Queens of Freeville (The Book Lady’s Blog) [...]
I quoted your review in my review of this book. I’m glad to know I’m not the only person that laughed and cried while reading this book!
I loved this book–laughed out loud, read great chunks to my husband, passed it on to my mom. My guest review appears in http://www.bookwormwithaview.blogspot.com
[...] 5. The Mighty Queens of Freeville by Amy Dicksinson [...]
[...] 5. The Mighty Queens of Freeville by Amy Dicksinson [...]
[...] 5. The Mighty Queens of Freeville by Amy Dicksinson [...]
[...] to do more of these in the coming months! On Wednesday night, I saw Amy Dicksinson, author of The Mighty Queens of Freeville, and Thursday night, I sat on a panel for The Writing Show (sponsored by James River Writers) about [...]