AOW #27

Independent, IRB - Your Voice in My Head by Emma Forest

Your Voice in My Head is a memoir.  Emma writes about a very complicated and tragic phase in her life.  She had somehow become attached to a person who was not good for her, extremely depressed, and suicidal.  She talks about a failed suicide attempt and her meetings with her deceased therapist who played a huge role in her life.  Without this therapist, Emma is now left in the world alone.  She reflects on what he was to her, how he helped her overcome her depression, and what it meant to lose him. 

I had high expectations for this book.  At first, it was the title that caught my eye.  It sounded interesting to me, and a good book review from Eat Pray Love's author Elizabeth Gilbert also persuaded me to give this book a try.  However, nearly a third of the way in now, I admit I'm a little bit disappointed.  Part of it is because I’ve been through my share of difficult circumstances and therefore I expected something deeply personal, given the description of the book. I expected something that would make me feel, make me empathize, perhaps even give me insight into my own life.  But instead, I have found the memoir to be a bit dry.  I don’t want to speak too soon but her words seem, to me, a bit scripted.  They are not real or passionate enough.  Also, the quotations she draws from her therapist are only mildly impressive.  Hopefully, the book will start to dive in deeper as I read on; after all, some books do take a while to get started.  But if I were to give a suggestion on what could have helped the introduction of this memoir to be more interesting, I would have approached it in a more serious tone (even if it is only at intervals).  The author’s voice is overly unserious and comical.  I understand that this can be seen as her humorous personality but if her reason for writing this book was to establish any type of connection with the reader, I’m not especially feeling a spark right now.