Six Degrees of Separation - April 2017

Six Degrees of Separation is a monthly meme that was started by Annabel Smith and Emma Chapman. It is currently hosted by Kate on her booksaremyfavouriteandbest blog, and normally runs on the first Saturday of the month. The main idea of this meme is to form a chain of books by linking something they have in common, kind of like forming a word ladder with common letters, and everyone begins their chains with the same book. Other than that, there are no set rules. You get to make your own!

This month, we are starting with Room by Emma Donoghue. I haven’t read this book, not have a seen the movie. The subject matter just seems too depressing to me. I thought at one point I would read it with my book club, but it turned out that most of us felt the same way about the book.

But the subject matter involving a kidnapping and prolonged captivity does remind me of another nonfiction book, A Stolen Life by Jaycee Duggard. I’ve not read that one either, though I’m open to the possibility. It doesn’t seem nearly as depressing knowing the outcome and that Ms. Duggard appears to be doing well now.

I have always confused A Stolen Life with another memoir, Stolen Innocence by Elissa Wall. This one is about the author’s forced marriage as a young girl. I’ve read this one and enjoyed it I’m not really sure why I confuse them. I guess the word ‘stolen’ in the title as well as the idea of the loss of the innocence of childhood runs together in my mind.

Stolen Innocence is the story of a young woman raised in a religous sect, FDLS, in which she later came to feel brainwashed and made her escape. fathermothergod by Lucia Greenhouse has a similar theme. Though the idea of ‘escpape’ is a bit extreme the author felt similarly brainwashed by her Christian Scientist parents. This all came to a head for her when she learned her mother was suffering from terminal cancer after years of avoiding doctors.

Another book in which the mother is diagnosed with a terminal case of cancer is Sally Hepworth’s latest story, The Mother’s Promise. Unlike fathermothergod, this one is fiction. It’s a good one, so add it to your list if you haven’t yet read it!

Sonya, one of the characters in The Mother’s Promise, is a victim of domestic violence. Domestic violence is also a theme in Big Little Lies by Liane Moriarty, one of my favorite authors. I read a lot of her books.

I’m ending my chain with another of my favorite books by Liane Moriarty is The Husband’s Secret.

And there’s my chain; from Room to The Husband’s Secret in six moves! Visit the current Six Degrees post on Kate’s blog to link up your chain and see what others have done with Room. Next month we will start with Room. Be sure to come back next month to see what I do with it!