Breaking Night

Reading Breaking Night: A Memoir of Forgiveness, Survival, and My Journey from Homeless to Harvard reminded me about the adversities that so many people face in their day to day life. It also gave me hope that no one is beyond hope or help, and that there is more to a person’s story than what you might perceive.

If you liked Jeanette Walls’ hugely popular and moving memoir The Glass Castle, you will probably like this book. If you couldn’t bear to read it, you definitely won’t want to read this one. If you are looking to have your eyes opened to the tragedy of children who are neglected by parents who value getting high more than making sure that their children are clean and fed, then dive in.

In Breaking Night, Liz Murray’s writing is descriptive, yet not flowery. She tells of the horrors of poverty she endured almost as an observer. Where this book diverges from the The Glass Castle is that Murray almost got pulled down as well. The bulk of the story tells about her struggle to stay motivated to attend school from about the time she was 11 on. There were many reasons and excuses for it, but in the end, her story shed light on how so many kids can end up on the wrong path.

But as the subtitle tells us, there is hope and restoration. Liz Murray eventually gets her act together and ends up being accepted on scholarship at Harvard.

I am curious if she’s writing another memoir, because though it was obvious that she was always an intelligent child, I’m curious how her transition into life at Harvard went. The book ends with the reader not even knowing if she got into Harvard or not, but the title and the bookjacket tells you that she did. If they didn’t, it would probably be unsatisfying as an ending, though I do understand why she chose to end it as she was waiting to receive her acceptance or rejection from Harvard.

On the amazon page, there’s a short video of Liz Murray talking about her story, and even after listening to her for 2 minutes, I can see how she was strong enough to write her story without blaming, exusing or whining. In her book, she told about how she couldn’t have made it through without the bits of help she received from institutions and individuals, and she gives the link to an organization that serves to feed hungry children: Blessings in a Backpack.

This isn’t an easy read at all, but I’m glad I read it. Any book that increases my awareness and compassion is a good thing for me. A line from the very beginning of the book set the tone:

“They had no intention to harm us. They simply did not have it in them to be the parents I wanted them to be. So how could I blame them?” (p. 50 ARC).

Jennifer Donovan reads books to inform, to entertain, and to escape. She blogs at Snapshot.