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highly recommended |
Beautiful Writing 
I loved this book. It is such an incredible story written so incredibly well. It completely blew me away. Amazing. I'd recommend it to anyone.
Funny, riveting, alluring
I just finished this book, less than 24 hours after its arrival in my mailbox. The author has a refreshing sense of humor relating to topics such as death, embalming, and driving a hearse as a sixteen-year-old girl. I laughed out loud many times, and had to pick up the book again after my children left for school. As a mother, the lack of parenting in this book is apalling, but also a lesson in how much of a responsibility we as parents have to protect our children from harm not only outside of our nhome, but within it. I applaud the courage of the author to search her soul for unthinkable ugliness and gain strength from the family she made her own, those that truly cared for her. I highly recommend this book, in spite of its less-than-rosy reality.
A book that makes you think...
Being from Monica's hometown, I initially wanted to read the book for fun- to read stories about our town and the people in it. What I didn't bargain for was the amount of self-reflection it perpetuated. Not only is it true that it is one of those books you can't put down (I finished it in just two days) but it is one of those books that you'll be thinking about for weeks after you are finished reading it.
This quote from the book sums up the simultaneous disappointment and enpowerment in realizing... 
that the support system you expected from your family is simply not there:
"Knowing there is no cavalry is much better than hoping for a cavalry that never comes. I am strong because I have to be. I am the cavalry."
This memoir of family dysfunction admirably traverses the path that brings the author to write those words.
couldn't put it down
I like some others, purchased this book thinking it would be a lighthearted read and it is; just about a heavy subject. I absolutely loved the book. It was expertly written, sad, funny, and moving. Everything you would want a book to be. Above all odds, Monica rose above the chaos. I just wish her dad and mom could get what they deserve; a long stay in a nasty jail cell. Bravo Monica.
reviews: page 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6
Small wonder that, at nine years old, Monica Holloway develops a fascination with the local funeral home. With a father who drives his Ford pickup with a Kodak movie camera sitting shotgun just in case he sees an accident, and whose home movies feature more footage of disasters than of his children, Monica is primed to become a morbid child. Yet in spite of her father's bouts of violence and abuse, her mother's selfishness and prim denial, and her siblings' personal battles and betrayals, Monica never succumbs to despair. Instead, she forges her own way, thriving at school and becoming fast friends with Julie Kilner, whose father is the town mortician. She and Julie prefer the casket showroom, where they take turns lying in their favorite coffins, to the parks and grassy backyards in her hometown of Elk Grove, Ohio. In time, Monica and Julie get a job driving the company hearse to pick up bodies at the airport, yet even Monica's growing independence can't protect her from her parents' irresponsibility, and from the feeling that she simply does not deserve to be safe. Little does she know, as she finally strikes out on her own, that her parents' biggest betrayal has yet to be revealed. Throughout this remarkable memoir of her dysfunctional, eccentric, and wholly unforgettable family, Monica Holloway's prose shines with humor, clear-eyed grace, and an uncommon sense of resilience. Driving with Dead People is an extraordinary real-life tale with a wonderfully observant and resourceful heroine.
Books I Bought for My Kindle
driving with, dead, driving, people
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