Annette Jordan's Reviews > This Ragged Grace: A Memoir of Recovery and Renewal

This Ragged Grace by Octavia Bright is a powerful memoir that is unafraid to examine the darkness of addiction and the desolation of loss while still having a hopeful and empowering tone. Though short, it is impactful and memorable and as I read I found myself rereading and highlighting passages that particularly spoke to me. such as " ..this idea that as we evolve, somewhere deep within us remains a skeletal trace of what came before that builds up in layers, a sediment of the self. But the point is that it's crucial to our continued survival to let some things sink to the bottom, recede until they are obsolete. " or " If addiction is rooted in the will to forget, recovery is an act of remembering - a slow reconnection with the parts of yourself that slipped out of reach while you hungered for escape. "
This latter quote is particularly poignant given that alongside her own story of recovery the author is describing the slow but irreversible decline of her father as his Alzheimer's disease progresses. Over the course of seven chapters we see Olivia rediscover herself, and begin to thrive in her new life while simultaneously trying to help her parents come to terms with the inevitable. As the Covid-19 pandemic erupts, Olivia and her family face further challenges , and her descriptions of socially distant visits to her father who by then was living in a care home bring back just how much so many people suffered while the world tried to figure out an answer to the awful situation.
I would highly recommend this memoir to anyone who enjoys thoughtful and well written prose, as well as those who appreciate bravery and honesty in their storytelling,
I read and reviewed an ARC courtesy of NetGalley and the publisher, all opinions are my own.