I Wore the Ocean in the Shape of a Girl

This profound memoir makes the reader feel

When Kellie was fifteen years old, she discovered the social intimacy of alcohol. Her life for several years afterward revolved around the next drink instead of school as she becomes an alcoholic who often went comatose in bars. At nineteen she gives birth to Tommy. However, her Uncle Mark and Aunt Julia take Tommy to live with him in Massachusetts as her parents insist she cannot take care of herself let alone a newborn. Fourteen moments later Tommy dies from leukemia, but his biological mother is kept in the dark as she struggles to sober up. Instead she is raped and turns to drink for solace. By 1984, Kellie dries out as she drops her drinking buddies. She finds employment and makes new supporting friends. Kellie graduates from college and obtains a position involving art. However, except for fleeting moments in her son's first days of existence and what her family has shared, she missed her child's brief life. Thus, she hopes this memoir will provide her some solace though she knows she can never fully gain that early wonder.

This profound memoir deftly rotates between the past and present as Ms. Groom shares how far into the abyss she fell and how difficult it was to climb out. Readers will empathize with the author as her grief, remorse and hope deeply surface when she muses about Tommy. Pulling no punches about the cost to her soul (and to her family) of her alcoholic years, Ms. Groom writes a heart felt biography as she searches for her Tommy who she regretfully missed when he was alive.

Harriet Klausner

4 out of 5 people found this review helpful.

Highly Recommended

Groom's writing style brings you to the moment.
So easily is the reader transported into the heart
of this young woman, bright and adventurous
by nature but through the culture and mindset
that would define a decade. I WORE THE OCEAN IN
THE SHAPE OF A GIRL offers the reader a bird's
eye view of Kelle Groom's progressive optimism as she
reinvents herself in time to fulfill her destiny--
and for the writer, or most of us for that matter---
the best of all possible worlds.

3 out of 3 people found this review helpful.

Bray239

This book just looks wrong and i couldnt picure me readin it

1 out of 1 people found this review helpful.

Samee

Same with the one under my rate and review. Hope u can get into the book. I liked the discription but the book was so boring. Good luck reading the book! Hope u like it! But I hate it! I love my review not the book!

0 out of 1 people found this review helpful.

I couldn't get into this book

As much as I loved the description, I couldn't get into this book.

life Changing

Everyone has a story to tell. Kelle Groom goes beyond that. She tells a tragic story in painful increments of beautiful prose. The result is an amazing book by a very special woman.

At the very early age of 15, Kelle finds alcohol as a way to express her. She loses herself to it, not realizing it until it is too late. Already an alcoholic, she has a baby at the age of nineteen. Her family supports her, as her aunt adopts the infant. Adding more sorrow to Kelle's painful life, the baby is diagnosed at nine months with leukemia, and dies at 14 months of age. Kelle loses him twice.

Already out of control, Kelle is in a freefall downward spiral, fast on her way to self- destruction. It takes the real desire to stop drinking and the connection with the right people who can actually help Kelle attain sobriety.

This is a unique story on many levels, all heart-rending, all gut wrenching. But at the very heart of this book is Kelle the mother, who survived it all, who needed acceptance and forgiveness ultimately from herself.

She did survive, and she found the courage to share her story. She gives hope a new voice. You cannot read this book and not be somehow changed by it.

Beautifully written memoir

I attended a reading by the writer in Brooklyn, but have never met her personally, and have nothing to gain or lose by writing this review. This memoir tells a very painful story, but in an artful way that builds up to an unexpected climax. Each chapter (there are 32) is like a prose poem in itself. After reading the whole book I went back and read individual chapters to appreciate the metaphors and the language. I highly recommend this book to readers who enjoy memoir and poetic writing.

Poetic

Very+poetic+and+moving.

A Must Read

While the story that Kelle Groom reveals can be harrowing, it is tempered by the writing -- writing that is so achingly beautiful, it made me realize the meaning of that phrase. My heart felt heavy as the narrative unfolded, surprises in every chapter, but the writing -- the metaphors, the descriptions, a language all her own -- made me want to savor it, re-read passages, read it aloud. As sad a story as it is, I was compelled to keep reading, to stay with her as she finds that young girl she was, finds her and forgives her.

Read it!

To be savored in small bites. Original turns of phrase punctuate this haunting, yet hopeful, memoir. Stirring.

Beautiful and Heartbreaking

This book is a memoir. It was written by a poet, and it's easy to see that in the writing. This was not an easy read by any means. The narrative flows from point in time to point in time with regularity. The book tells the story of an alcoholic, through her treatment and relapse(s). However, most the narrative involves the son she gave up for adoption to her aunt and uncle. Her son dies very young of leukemia, and her desire to reconnect with this missing part of her self directs her actions throughout her life.

Honestly, I don't really feel qualified to review this book. I'm not even sure I got it. This book felt so dark through most of it, as if she could never chase away her demons. I almost want to talk to her now, and see if she has found any peace. Despite all this, I found myself in tears at the end, and not necessarily sad ones. It's not a clear cut happy ending, but I did find some comfort.

The writing is very stylized. Although I find the subject matter difficult to read, the world themselves were beautiful. It's easy to see the poet coming through. While this isn't going to be a fun read necessarily, I do think it is worth reading. There is some satisfaction at seeing her work past her alcoholism and learning more about her son. So while it's not a breezy read, I did enjoy it.

Galley provided by publisher for review.

Humbling and frightening

As readers all know, there are books out there on the market that entertain, romance, thrill, scare, and teach. This is a unique book, however, because it does each and every one of those things and more. Using a powerful "voice," it will be an impossible struggle for many readers as they try to figure out how to put it down; or, whether or not they can continue reading. Kelle Groom bares all, from mistakes to tragedies, to triumphs and pain. The Groom family history is told through various stories including that of Kelle's son's cancer. The author leads readers down her horrific path that began as early as fifteen, when Kelle decided that only with alcohol could she make it through the day. This is a young woman who blacked out in high school, and hooked up with males that made sure to "egg" her on and hurt her as best they could. This was an empty shell of a girl; this was a life that was already over, with Kelle simply waiting for the end to come. At nineteen - who knows why, or what Higher Power could've thought it would be a good thing - Kelle became pregnant and made a good choice, finally, by realizing that there was no way she could support or care for a child. With the custody being given over to her Aunt and Uncle, Kelle's son Tommy went to live in a much happier environment. The absolute worst would come to pass, however, when Tommy died of Leukemia at only fourteen months of age. Kelle, through journals that she kept, has taken a great deal of strength to write this story. Some will despise Kelle for what she did; some will be supportive and happy for her recovery. While others will read about the tragedies and horror that Kelle went through which included abuse, rape, alcoholism, and abduction, and find themselves sickened beyond belief. Kelle is very open and honest throughout - sometimes brutally. She touches upon the horrors that exist in this world - horrors that others are living through right this minute. She still searches for the reasons for it all, and for her Tommy whose soul was taken to a better place. Kelle Groom searches for her son's body and the truth, which she may never find. But having the ability and the power to come "out" and get "clean" is something that can not be "reviewed." It is something that the reader has to experience for herself. Quill Says: This is an exquisitely written, humbling, and frightening story of survival and redemption, from a woman who may forever have a brutal path to walk.

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