Stories of My Life (Katherine Paterson) - A Review
STORIES OF MY LIFE. By Katherine Paterson. Louisville, KY: Westminster John Knox Press, 2022. Xvii + 331 pages.
As I've grown older, I've gained a greater appreciation and
enjoyment from reading memoirs. Perhaps that's because memoirs often encourage the
reader to reflect on one's own life story. The memoir could be written by
someone whose story you know fairly well. Perhaps you’ve read their books or
even met them. There are other times when you encounter a book written by
someone whose name sounds familiar, but you’ve had few if any encounters.
Reading their stories can also be enlightening and intriguing. Since I am a book reviewer who receives books
from publishers who believe I might have an interest in the book, I
occasionally receive memoirs of persons with whom I’ve had little interaction.
That is true here with Katherine Paterson’s Stories of My Life.
For
those who might be unfamiliar with Katherine Paterson, she is an award-winning
children's author. Having won both the Newberry Medal, the Laura Ingalls Wilder
Award, and the National Book Award. Her books include Bridge to Terabithia, The Great Gilly Hopkins, and Jacob Have I Loved. As
her books appeared after my childhood and were written for children who already
can read for themselves, I did not have the occasion to read them (my son may
have read them on my own). While I might not know her books or her life story
from previous encounters, I did find reading her memoir fascinating. Part of
that is because she is an award-winning storyteller, but it’s also because Katherine
Paterson has lived a very full life.
As Paterson notes in her introduction,
this book began as she attempted to write down what she calls her "kitchen
sink" stories. These are the kinds of stories she remembers her mother
telling Paterson about her own childhood while standing at the kitchen sink. As
Paterson began to lay out the anecdotal stories from her childhood, other
stories came into view. Therefore, "the thing just got out of hand and grew,
not into a proper memoir, but beyond the simple collection of stories I'd first
intended" (p. xvi). As a result, what we have here in this book is a
collection of stories that takes us from Paterson's childhood as the daughter
of Presbyterian missionaries in China before WWII to her present life. Her
starting point is pre-World War II China, which is where she was born and then had
her earliest life experiences. Some of those experiences came while China lived
under Japanese occupation. As the book proceeds, we follow her life journey from
China to the United States, then back to China, and then back to the States.
Her early years were rather nomadic and yet they helped form her as a Christian
and as a writer. While she tells her own story, other important figures in her
life appear. These include stories about her father's exploits in China,
including his attempts to smuggle medical supplies under the nose of the
Japanese occupiers to those in need further inland. She tells us as well of the
family's attempt to return to China after the war that ended up with them
having to leave behind their beloved China after the Communist takeover led to
the expulsion of western missionaries.
As she achieved adulthood, she earned
a degree in English literature and taught English for a time in the United
States. While that was satisfying in some ways, the call to missionary life
still grabbed her. Though she wanted to return to China, that was not possible.
Instead, the Presbyterian mission board assigned her to Japan. With her earlier
unpleasant experiences with the Japanese occupiers of China, she wasn’t eager
to go to Japan. Nevertheless, she took up the call. While she struggled at
times with the culture, it was not long before she came to love the people of
Japan, who in turn loved her. She spent four years in Japan, often living with
Japanese families. After she returned to the United States after four years in
Japan she decided to pursue graduate theological education. She initially
planned on applying to Yale Divinity School, but in the end, she enrolled at Union
Theological Seminary in New York. It was there that she met the young Presbyterian
minister whom she would later marry. Marriage led to motherhood, and eventually
to a writing career. All of these exploits appear in the book. Along the way,
we meet numerous interesting people, a few pets, and more. Regarding her
award-winning writing career; that came sometime after motherhood ensued. With
her writing career, came recognition and awards, including several Newberrys and
National Book Awards. With time she became one of the most recognized and
decorated children’s authors in the country.
While I'm sure her books, most of which are fictional, are intriguing, I'm not sure they can top her life story. At least that would be true for an adult first encountering her writing. As you might expect from an award-winning author, Stories of My Life is a well-written book. The fact that it is a collection of stories rather than a traditional memoir, might make it even more interesting. Rather than a straight line from birth to the present, we meander through life hearing stories to open the imagination, even if they are real-life stories. As this is a religious press (Presbyterian at that), it should not surprise anyone that a thread of the life of faith runs throughout the book. Of course, now that I know her story, I may have to check out her other books, including the children's books. I’ve read somewhere that preachers (and I’m a preacher by trade) can benefit from reading children’s books.
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