You Don't Have to Say You Love Me
Books | Biography & Autobiography / Literary Figures
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Sherman Alexie
A searing, deeply moving memoir about family, love, loss, and forgiveness from the critically acclaimed, bestselling National Book Award-winning author of The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian. Family relationships are never simple. But Sherman Alexie's bond with his mother Lillian was more complex than most. She plunged her family into chaos with a drinking habit, but shed her addiction when it was on the brink of costing her everything. She survived a violent past, but created an elaborate facade to hide the truth. She selflessly cared for strangers, but was often incapable of showering her children with the affection that they so desperately craved. She wanted a better life for her son, but it was only by leaving her behind that he could hope to achieve it. It's these contradictions that made Lillian Alexie a beautiful, mercurial, abusive, intelligent, complicated, and very human woman. When she passed away, the incongruities that defined his mother shook Sherman and his remembrance of her. Grappling with the haunting ghosts of the past in the wake of loss, he responded the only way he knew how: he wrote. The result is a stunning memoir filled with raw, angry, funny, profane, tender memories of a childhood few can imagine, much less survive. An unflinching and unforgettable remembrance, You Don't Have to Say You Love Me is a powerful, deeply felt account of a complicated relationship.
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Author
Sherman Alexie
Pages
464
Publisher
Little, Brown
Published Date
2017-06-13
ISBN
0316270768 9780316270762
Community ReviewsSee all
"This was a long read lol. 12 hours worth of content over a 5 day period is funny because I am not used to reading one book for so long. And I need to say that I went into this reading expecting the same stuff as “the absolutely true diary of a part-time Indian” and it was pretty similar but with more feeling and poetry. I don’t think I know a poet so good with words. He is the true definition of a wordsmith! Sherman alexie’s love for his mother and the conflict of his anger at his mom mixed with his grief over her death is literally so amazing. Alexie was inducted into the academy of arts and letters. I am beyond floored by the beautiful prose of this novel. Thank you Sherman Alexie"
"Cw: tackles a lot of serious topics in a very frank way. Mentions of sexual violence, physical violence, substance abuse and child abuse and neglect, but all are necessary to show a complete picture of the environment where the author grew up."
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jennifer olson