Hi friends, happy Monday! I hope you’re all doing well. Today I’m posting my review of Maggie O’Farrell’s memoir, I Am I Am I Am.

I Am I Am I Am by: Maggie O’Farrell: This was the author, O’Farrell’s memoir, specifically talking about her brushes with death. Each chapter dove into each encounter she’s had throughout the course of her life. She has had more brushes than your average person, which made this an interesting read, but also a very heavy book to read. This made the reader wonder how much sadness and pain a person can truly take on. Each instance was different as it ranged from almost being hit by a car, to almost being attacked, to the heavier topics like having an illness as a child that left her on the brink of death, to having a miscarriage. Some chapters were shorter than others, and some chapters were deeper than others, but we still felt that heartbreak, no matter the story. The way this was written was also really beautiful. For topics so raw and vulnerable, O’Farrell, was able to captivate her audience with her flowery writing and she made these topics feel like a hug and not as harsh as they were. There were moments throughout where the reader forgot they were reading non-fiction because the writing was so touching, and just flowed so well. There were some stories where she wrote about herself in the third person and the reader wasn’t sure why she did that; to mix things up? Those were the chapters that we felt less connected to. The reader also appreciated that this was told out of order; it bounced around from different ages, which took out the predictability of the story, and made it an even more fascinating read. The fact that it moved around a lot meant that we only got glimpses of things before we read them in depth. It felt like a really clever way to keep the reader engaged. The way this ended on talking about her own daughter’s brushes with death, and how that made her feel as a mother, made this whole book come full circle. It was so gut-wrenching to read the things she not only had to go through as a person, but then go through as a mother with her daughter, it was so sad, but also showed how tough and resilient she is. In the end, this was a harrowing story, but an honest and truthful one that really depicts what life can throw at you.