This fast paced gem, Hurricane Girl, teeters between horribly disturbing and wildly humorous. Although it many not be my usual type of story, I have to say, I was really taken by the succinct prose and the horror of the turn of events!
When Allison’s new beach house is destroyed by a hurricane, the distraught, homeless millennial makes the regretful decision to go home with a cameraman she just met named Keith (she hates the name Keith) that initially provides feelings of comfort and safety. When he surprisingly hits her over the head with a glass vase, she must now focus on her newest problem, how to fix the bleeding hole in her head. She then undergoes surgery and ruminates about feelings of love for her surgeon, or maybe just his fancy New Jersey apartment rooftop swimming pool.
Allison’s post-op reasoning is all mixed up and we reap the benefit of hearing her no-holds-barred honest and spontaneous thoughts and ideas as they pop in and out of her head. From North Carolina to New Jersey to Miami, Allison’s injury and instability lead her on a quest for love, the perfect swimming pool and a turkey sandwich. Allison’s life is messy and author Marcy Dermansky is witty, observant and creative in her telling of this quirky character’s traumatic yet entertaining circumstances. I read Hurricane Girl in one sitting and highly recommend it!
Hello Molly! is a one sitting read that brings tears of joy and sadness. Molly reveals moments of her unconventional upbringing by her single dad, recognizing all that she missed. She also recalls her crazy journey toward an incredible career, the hysterical characters she created, her many genius SNL skits and memories of a bizarre incident with Gary Coleman! With the loss of her mother, baby sister and cousin at age 4, due to a car accident where her father was driving, Molly’s guide was her disabled father who didn’t always give her the sound advice one would expect. Mostly acting as friends rather than father — daughter, Molly managed to achieve great success on her own, her dad becoming her biggest fan. The comic genius recalls time at NYU Tisch School of the Arts in the 1980s, cutting school, shoplifting, auditioning and performing.
With insight, the heartwarming stories provide a lens into Molly’s positivity, humor and charm. I highly recommend this memoir and really enjoyed the childhood stories, the walk down SNL’s memory lane and my google searches that brought up snippets of Mary Katherine Gallagher and Sally O’Malley, just to name a few!
