Shooting Out the Lights: A Memoir

by Kim Fairley

Overview

Kim Fairley was twenty-four when she fell in love with and married a man who was fifty-seven. Something about Vern—his quirkiness, his humor, his devilish smile—made her feel an immediate connection with him. She quickly became pregnant, but instead of the idyllic interlude she’d imagined as she settled into married life and planned for their family, their love was soon tested by the ghosts of Vern’s past—a town, a house, a family, a memory.

Shooting Out the Lights is a real-life mystery that explores the challenges faced in a loving marriage, the ongoing, wrenching aftermath of gun violence and the healing that comes with confronting the past.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781647421342
Publisher:	She Writes Press
Publication date:	07/27/2021
Pages:	304
Product dimensions:	5.50(w) x 8.50(h) x (d)

About the Author

Kim Fairley was born in Plainfield, New Jersey, and raised in Cincinnati, Ohio. She attended the University of Southern California and holds an MFA in Mixed Media from the University of Michigan. Her first book, Boreal Ties: Photographs and Two Diaries of the 1901 Peary Relief Expedition, chronicled the Arctic expedition of her great grandfather, Clarence Wyckoff. Kim lives in Ann Arbor, Michigan.

Editorial Reviews

2022 IPPY Award  for Midwest Best Regional Nonfiction
2021 Shortlisted for the Hearten Book Award for Inspiring and Uplifting Nonfiction
2022 International Book Awards Finalist in Parenting & Family
2022 Independent Press Awards Distinguished Favorite in Memoir

“. . . riveting and absorbing . . .”
—Phillip Lopate, author of A Mother's Tale

“A riveting book that builds ominously.”
—Jerry S. Walden, MD, founder of Physicians for Prevention of Gun Violence

“Fairley scores a bull's-eye with her rich and complex memoir, Shooting Out the Lights. Fairley's gift of mesmerizing storytelling and intimately crafted characters make the reader feel as if they are sitting at her kitchen table. Shooting Out the Lights is a compelling memoir that will have the reader thinking about it long after turning the last page.”
—Renee Hodges, author of Saving Bobby

“At its best, the author's writing is evocative, and her story is both unique and intriguing. . . . this is a book that many readers will find difficult to put down. A captivating family account that delivers compelling, acutely observant writing.”
—Kirkus Reviews

“Shooting Out the Lights is an exquisite memoir that analyzes what brought a couple together to face loss and their shattered hopes with enduring love.”
—Foreword Reviews

From the Publisher

2021-04-07
A wife comes to terms with her husband’s troubled past in this memoir.

“You were a preservationist, and I needed preserving,” joked Vernon, Fairley’s future husband, reflecting on his motivation for asking her out on a date. When they met, Vern, who was 32 years the author’s senior, was struggling to cope with the tragic death of his 14-year-old son, Ben, who was shot accidentally while playing with a revolver. Fairley fell in love with Vern’s “quirkiness”; they married, and, three months later, on her 25th birthday, the author discovered that she was pregnant. Soon after, Vern announced that the son of a recently deceased friend would be coming to stay with them temporarily. Taking care of 11-year-old Stanislaus was not what Fairley had expected during pregnancy. The situation became yet more fractious when Stanislaus was found to be a disturbed child, setting his bed afire and stabbing the family dog. With Vern’s health in decline, the stress of caring for Stanislaus forced the couple to reassess their marriage. The author strives to understand her husband’s inner struggles and, in doing so, unpacks some startling “sealed memories.” Fairley’s memoir is part mystery, leaving the author (and the audience) to guess at Vern’s true motives for taking in Stanislaus. Fairley’s slow reveal makes for absorbing reading. Throughout the volume, she maps her shifting emotions with a candid clarity: “I felt myself slump. In that moment, I realized another reason I had resisted Stan’s presence so fiercely: time was a commodity in my relationship with Vern.” The author has an occasional tendency to share extraneous information. Describing their dog, Chippie, she notes: “He’d developed a severe anal sac problem and would scoot along the floor, leaving oily anal juice on everything.” Fairley’s scrupulous attention to detail is put to better use when capturing the ambience of small-town Ohio: “I loved the screened-in porch, the way it overlooked the old footbridge with the cast-iron street lamp….The old furnace pumped out heat that smelled of kerosene in the winter.” At its best, the author’s writing is evocative, and her story is both unique and intriguing. Despite the sporadic digressions, this is a book that many readers will find difficult to put down.

A captivating family account that delivers compelling, acutely observant writing.

Kirkus Reviews