With or Without You

There are books people need to get out. Personal works written to someone they love or hate that perhaps should stay personal. Often this is my reaction when I read a memoir. Nice story, but why? Especially when the writer has obvious talent I can't help but question him or her. Why not fictionalize this? Why put something out that is so personal?

It's what makes rating a book like this too difficult. It's the reason I struggled with my ratings for [b:Life Inside: A Memoir|278194|Life Inside A Memoir|Mindy Lewis|http://d.gr-assets.com/books/1354847505s/278194.jpg|269816] and [b:The Last Lecture|2318271|The Last Lecture|Randy Pausch|http://d.gr-assets.com/books/1365984624s/2318271.jpg|3364076]. Perhaps I shouldn't put a value to personal memoirs. Ruta's story is interesting, written fairly well, but to put a value to her story of heartache and redemption—I can't do it. But then is putting a “value” to a book ever a good idea? (I'm beginning to wonder.)

Ruta proves to be an intelligent and promising writer. Her style was good, but I would've personally preferred a more linear narrative. Her story is somehow both tragic and not. I don't know, what can I say about this memoir? In my opinion, the best part of the book was the epilogue, where Ruta answers some of my questions about purpose and ties up the loose strands in a poetic, meaningful way.

Yeah, that about sums it up. I should just stay away from memoirs.