This audiobook was simply delightful. If only all book prefaces could start me laughing while doing a superb job of setting the stage for a book. Kimmel concluded the preface by saying that She Got Up Off the Couch was about her mother, Delonda, and that her experience was typical of a whole generation of women who also got up off the couch to claim a life of their won. I'm a sucker for a story about women's issues so she had my attention from the beginning.
The memoir was well crafted and well told. To get the most enjoyment out of it, you should listen to it. Haven Kimmel uses her voice to instill additional dimension to the stories that she tells. The story picks up when Zippy is 9 or 10 and follows her life for several years. She paints vivid descriptions of the people in her life, family members, her parents' friends and her own friends. While listening, I would burst out laughing. Other times, I would be shaking my head in recognition of similar childhood experiences or when I was "feeling her pain". I couldn't get enough of the story and kept offering to do any errands or other driving so that I could listen to the next events in Zippy's life.
I, too, had my mother go back to school (for her MBA) while I was growing up. After finishing the book, I spent some time thinking about what my mother and other women in her generation did to make higher education and better career options something that felt automatic rather than something that I had to struggle for. I am grateful for their efforts.
Lorraine
