Oh Give Me a Home
Jane Kurtz’s touching memoir in verse Oh Give Me a Home is about belonging and sisterhood.
In Maji, Ethiopia, young Kurtz and her family laid down roots after her father helped the community build a waterwheel. As a child, Kurtz loved her life, her friends, and her books. While navigating the complexities of growing up, she learned that her family would be moving back to the United States. As she worked to retain her identity, she reflected on the cultural differences between her two homes.
Focused on Kurtz’s girlhood, the book is replete with innocent questions and desires. Kurtz wanted to have a pet, to understand what her mother was refusing to tell her, and to find her place among her sisters:
On foggy days,
this house is
a house full of sisters,
the whole and only world.
Later, Kurtz went through profound changes, noting “I am a caterpillar / in a chrysalis / soup.” Her examinations of the world through small creatures are further examples of the purity of her perspective, as when she refers to a toy dinosaur as a “prehistoric pet.” Kurtz wonders at the multiple new bug species in Idaho and asks versions of “what’s next?”, highlighting her capacity for curiosity.
The free verse poems are clear, consistent, and linear, though not separated onto distinct pages. Their layout follows the trajectory of Kurtz’s childhood, from her move to the US to her navigation of life as a new student with new friends. Intelligible and swift, its a steady, introspective text that showcases profound personal changes and family love.
Oh Give Me a Home is a tender and accessible memoir centered in growing up in a changing world.
Reviewed by
Jennifer Maveety
Disclosure: This article is not an endorsement, but a review. The publisher of this book provided free copies of the book to have their book reviewed by a professional reviewer. No fee was paid by the publisher for this review. Foreword Reviews only recommends books that we love. Foreword Magazine, Inc. is disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255.
