Swallow the Ocean: A Memoir

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Overview

Charismatic, beautiful Sally Flynn was the center of her daughters' imaginations, particularly Laura's. Without warning, life as they knew it changed as paranoid schizophrenia overtook Sally. Whether it was accusing Laura’s father of trying to win her over to the side of Satan, or buying only certain products that were evil-free, glimmers of her mother’s future paranoia grew brighter as Laura’s early years passed. Once her husband left the family and filed for divorce, Sally’s symptoms bloomed in earnest, and the three girls united in flights of fancy of the sort their mother had taught them in order to deflect danger. Set in 1970s San Francisco, Swallow the Ocean is a searing, ...

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Overview

Charismatic, beautiful Sally Flynn was the center of her daughters' imaginations, particularly Laura's. Without warning, life as they knew it changed as paranoid schizophrenia overtook Sally. Whether it was accusing Laura’s father of trying to win her over to the side of Satan, or buying only certain products that were evil-free, glimmers of her mother’s future paranoia grew brighter as Laura’s early years passed. Once her husband left the family and filed for divorce, Sally’s symptoms bloomed in earnest, and the three girls united in flights of fancy of the sort their mother had taught them in order to deflect danger. Set in 1970s San Francisco, Swallow the Ocean is a searing, beautifully written memoir of a childhood under siege and three young girls determined to survive. In luminous prose, this memoir paints a most intimate portrait of what might have been a catastrophic childhood.

Editorial Reviews

Juliet Wittman
Flynn loved her mother as much as she longed to get away from her, and a great deal of this book's strength lies in her childish attempts to sort out the reality her mother presented to her from the reality she understood to exist outside their home…As her mother became more unpredictable, Flynn's father tried to gain custody of his daughters, an attempt hindered by the court system's bureaucratic incomprehension. Meanwhile, the sisters played elaborate fantasy games with dolls, sending them to explore swirling underwater worlds. The germ of this skilled and lyrical book is these childhood imaginings.
—The Washington Post
Publishers Weekly

It was 1975, and nine-year-old Flynn was sitting with her mother on the floor of their San Francisco apartment with a pile of money as her mother explained that the "faces of these men on the coins and bills in front of us... had impact on people and events." Flynn's father had moved out a year earlier; her two sisters were at school, where she, too, should have been; instead, her mother needed to talk with her about all those faces on the money. This is how Flynn, a writing instructor at the University of Minnesota, begins her elegantly written story of how her mother had been an adventurous bohemian in the 1950s and '60s, before she became unhinged by what was later diagnosed as paranoid schizophrenia. Family life became bizarrely unpredictable as her mother became attached to stranger and stranger notions. After her father moved out, "mother laid out the new terms of our lives... staying inside, and cutting all our ties to other people... careful about what we ate, and what we wore." Readers begin to share Flynn's "sense of dread" about what her mother might do next, heightened by the disturbingly controlled calm of her narration. (Feb.)

Copyright 2007 Reed Business Information

Product Details

  • ISBN-13: 9781582433851
  • Publisher: Counterpoint
  • Publication date: 1/28/2008
  • Pages: 304
  • Product dimensions: 5.80 (w) x 8.30 (h) x 1.10 (d)

Meet the Author

A native of San Francisco, Laura Flynn currently teaches writing at the University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, where she lives with her husband. This is her first book.

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Sort by: Showing all of 4 Customer Reviews

  • Anonymous

    Posted May 21, 2008

    One of my favorite memoirs

    The title of this book seems odd but once you read the book the title then makes perfect sense. This is a great book. If you like memoirs you will love this book. Laura did an outstanding job of describing the events to the point that I felt like I was actually there witnessing her childhood as it was happening. It was definitely a book I didn't want to put down, or want to end. I felt emotionally attached while reading it. I was so attached that I literally cried during the last pages. My heart felt so heavy for the Laura and her sisters, but mostly for Laura. She carried the burden of being loyal to her mother who was mentally unable to be a nuturing mother. A mother that every child is entitled to. Laura loves her Mom but she clearly sees the situation for what it is and doesn't expect anymore than her Mother is able to give, which is minimal at best. This is a book I will read again.

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  • Anonymous

    Posted May 27, 2008

    One of the best memoirs I've read!

    I love to read memoirs but rarely feel such a bond to the characters as I did to these three girls. I just feel such an immense respect for how all three girls got on with their lives and became such strong adults after living such a horrific childhood. I think their father's immense love, along with their stepmother, is what made all the difference. And I do believe that underneath their mother's sickness was a woman who did care about her girls, especially before she really lost touch with reality. I just have to say I am so full of respect for Laura and her sisters. The girl's lives were so sad as children, but they had an amazing tenacity and will to survive. I'll never forget their story- it deeply touched me. A MUST read!

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  • Anonymous

    Posted March 15, 2008

    Family love and strife

    I read the review in the Mpls Star Tribune. The first thing that struck me upon looking at the book in the bookstore was the author's picture. There is an obvious vulnerability in her eyes and I knew the book would be worth reading based upon that alone. The writing is outstanding and the story is increasingly sad because of her mother's illness. However, Flynn tells the story in a way that is inspired and important. I was moved by her resiliency in the face of so much angst and her continued love for a mother who was not there for her. I loved how she derived at the title-always a dilemma for writers and I was thinking about this memoir for days.

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  • Anonymous

    Posted February 20, 2008

    Couldn't put it down / helped me see my own family more clearly

    The first two days the book was in my house, I lost it to my wife, who read it straight threw. Then I couldn't put it down. For such a subject that can be so heavy, the writing is very easy to sink into and enjoy. I also grew up with a parent who was mentally ill for many years. This book found an approach to talking about growing up with a mentally ill parent that was just the right balance of directly looking at what is painful and lightness. The author can sometimes takes a refreshing birds-eye view, while also noticing intimate, specific details of family life. I found reading it to be very life-affirming.

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