Momentum
A Memoir
Momentum is an emotive memoir about a lifetime spent searching for communal and political belonging.
Emily Brown’s careful memoir Momentum fills in the gaps left by her dismantled family.
The book’s opening scene—its only out of sequence—focuses on Brown’s uncle’s funeral and the memories it brought up about his joyful effusiveness and personal accolades. Brown’s flood of emotions in response raises the question of how her nuclear family grew estranged and discontent. It is then revealed that her parents split up and her older siblings moved out to build their own lives, after which Brown strained to garner her parents’ attention without success. She moved to Berkeley with her mother in the 1970s; in time, she attended the University of California, Berkeley. She became a member of a communist organization that later dissolved, married a comrade, moved to Canada, and became a mother. The book returns to Brown’s uncle’s funeral at its conclusion, as a means of personal closure.
Period details, as of the fall of the Soviet Union and crises in Nicaragua, are used to flesh out the book’s themes of communal and political belonging. Personal and general tales of women’s liberation efforts in the 1960s have the same effect. Brown’s years with the Democratic Workers Party are a source of tension that exceeds Brown’s internal conflicts, though. Indeed, her differences of opinion with the leader, work to complete assignments, and skepticism over institutional missions are narrated in a panoramic manner. Also covered in keen detail are Brown’s travels in Latin America, during which she gained senses of confidence and independence, learning to self-advocate and determining to leave the organization.
The book’s pace shifts as it progresses, becoming less active and more self-reflective, synthesizing and making sense of earlier activities. Intriguing details arise, both metaphorical (Brown recalls feeling like she was in a deep, dark hole) and observant when it comes to other people (Brown’s mother’s habit of dabbing her nose with a Kleenex when she wanted attention is noted). Turning points in Brown’s relationship with her parents are given extended space, too: Both a birthday party that her mother left early and a dreaded, ultimately canceled visit with her father are mined for meaning. Indeed, as the narration becomes more internal, it also becomes more emotive, leading to a triumphant conclusion.
A searching memoir, Momentum is about a lifelong quest for purpose and belonging.
Reviewed by
Mari Carlson
Disclosure: This article is not an endorsement, but a review. The publisher of this book provided free copies of the book and paid a small fee to have their book reviewed by a professional reviewer. Foreword Reviews and Clarion Reviews make no guarantee that the publisher will receive a positive review. Foreword Magazine, Inc. is disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255.
