Author: June Melby
There are so many ways to start this review. But there's only one way to end it, so I'll start there:
[End of Review]
Whether you know June Melby or not, you will feel as if you do, by the time you finish My Family and Other Hazards, her memoir describing the summers her family spent running a mini-golf course. Whether you're willing to admit that your attitudes towards your parents and their mores might have been immature and needed reexamination as you grew up, you will see that June is more than willing to express herself as she admits it, and you find yourself doing that reexamination alongside her as she shares her lifelong process of revelation and appreciation. This book is filled with stories, humor, appreciation, and ultimately a familial love that you will either recognize or long for -- or perhaps both.
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And now, let me start the review.
I met June Melby, the author of My Family and Other Hazards, when she was an underclassman in High School, and I was an upperclassman. We were both interested in drama, so we became cast members and mime troupe cohorts (yes, I was a mime for a while -- yet another thing most of you never knew about me.) Ultimately, she joined our Dungeons and Dragons group, in which I was either the leader of the party, or the Dungeon Master. And, importantly, she was the daughter of my high school Chemistry and Physics teacher -- which mattered to me almost none at all, because being the child of a teacher, myself, I knew that children are not their parents, and they don't go tattling to their parents/teacher about every little strangeness their friends/students might have.
Yet, once June left Decorah for college, we rarely saw one another, and until she started performing in Los Angeles and started her own blog (long before anyone was trying to make a living blogging, or, truthfully, before people called it "blogging") I had very little idea what she was up to.
I say all this as a preface, because I want you to understand that when I read June's memoir, I already knew that she spent her summers at a Tom Thumb mini-golf course. I knew, because, from a friend's viewpoint, it was quite inconvenient. It took June away from us for the crucial months when the group of us could gather regularly for gaming or movies or just walking around our hometown laughing too loudly, concocting inane ideas which seemed to matter so much, but which ultimately became inside jokes, and in general, just being a group of teenagers. And June was not able to be part of those summers. Instead, she was with her family, at the Tom Thumb, somewhere in the wilds of Wisconsin.
Little did I understand what was happening at the Tom Thumb. Now I know: It was forming the basis for the very interesting life story of a very funny, very engaging, very personal author.
And I really don't think I'm saying this just because I know June. Because when I read the book, very little of what was written were stories I had heard from her. I think that's because -- and it's clear as you read the book -- while she certainly remembers the stories of her teenage years, and she remembers how she felt and reacted as a teenager -- she didn't realize at the time how much those years with her family were affecting her. In particular, it's clear that the adult June knows that the teenage June didn't understand or appreciate the role her parents were taking in shaping her, even as she rebelled against (in her subdued Midwest way) and questioned so many of their ways.
As she tells the stories, you can imagine sitting in a coffee shop with her, listening to the narrative of her experiences, and being drawn along as she learns more about life, love, and her parents. And you can imagine enjoying every minute.
And now -- get ready branch to the ending and read it again. My long-time friend, with whom I lost touch a bit over the years, but who now lives back in our hometown, has written a book. She spent her summers doing something most of us cannot imagine, and she wrote a very well-crafted book telling the story of how running a mini-golf course with her family affected her life. If this description makes the book sound like something you would enjoy, you're right. If it does not, well, sorry, you're wrong. You will be pleasantly surprised.
Now - GOTO [End of Review]
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