2008 Woodie Awards
"Driving with Dead People"
By: Lyndsey Reese
Issue date: 3/21/08 Section: Pulse
Monica Holloway's memoir, "Driving with Dead People," is a brave recount of a childhood spent growing up in southern Ohio with a more than dysfunctional family. One of four children born to an abusive father, Holloway tells of the struggles she and her siblings endured - struggles that nearly wrecked their adult lives when her oldest sister, JoAnn, attempted suicide.
Holloway paints a clear portrait of her immediate family - her mother, father, two older sisters and older brother. She looks up to all of them, especially her father, half-fearing him and half-longing for his love and attention. Early on in her life, she meets Julie Kilner, the girl with the family that foils her own and the two girls form a lasting friendship. Julie's father owns a morgue, and once the girls are in high school, he gives them the job of driving to pick up bodies from the Cincinnati Airport. Holloway's humor and outgoing nature shine in these episodes with the Kilners, despite her difficult home situation.
But when JoAnn comes out with her jarring secret years later - the sexual abuse suffered at the hand of their father - Holloway doesn't know how to react. She clearly conveys her internal strife: her desire to believe her sister, yet her wish to refuse the harsh reality of her father's cruelty. The reader feels Holloway's anxiety and doubt as she questions her own relationship with her father - was she a victim of this abuse, too?
"Driving with Dead People" is a well-written memoir that tells of a bond between two sisters that survives and strengthens, despite the abuse of their violent father. Holloway proves to be an inspiring, resilient individual whose attributes shine through her prose.
Holloway paints a clear portrait of her immediate family - her mother, father, two older sisters and older brother. She looks up to all of them, especially her father, half-fearing him and half-longing for his love and attention. Early on in her life, she meets Julie Kilner, the girl with the family that foils her own and the two girls form a lasting friendship. Julie's father owns a morgue, and once the girls are in high school, he gives them the job of driving to pick up bodies from the Cincinnati Airport. Holloway's humor and outgoing nature shine in these episodes with the Kilners, despite her difficult home situation.
But when JoAnn comes out with her jarring secret years later - the sexual abuse suffered at the hand of their father - Holloway doesn't know how to react. She clearly conveys her internal strife: her desire to believe her sister, yet her wish to refuse the harsh reality of her father's cruelty. The reader feels Holloway's anxiety and doubt as she questions her own relationship with her father - was she a victim of this abuse, too?
"Driving with Dead People" is a well-written memoir that tells of a bond between two sisters that survives and strengthens, despite the abuse of their violent father. Holloway proves to be an inspiring, resilient individual whose attributes shine through her prose.
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