Lyndsay's Reviews > Run Towards the Danger: Confrontations with a Body of Memory

I've really gone back and forth on whether or not I should actually rate this book. I sometimes choose not to give a star rating to a very personal account of a person's life and the trauma they've experienced. This book, while being a personal account of the author's trauma and how she chose to overcome it, also presented a bit of a challenge for me. I think I'll leave this book unrated but it does feel a bit like a 3 star read if I'm rating only on the reading experience.

This is a collection of essays all about Sarah Polley's life and the ups and downs she experience growing up as a child actor in Canada. At the start of the book, the author clearly states that this is a series of essays written over the course of many years as her way of reckoning with some of the things that she experienced. It is a not a book that was written all in one go to be published together. I don't think she wrote any of these essays with the express idea of a book in mind.

And that is my biggest hang-up with this book. The structure of the collection is the book's downfall in my opinion. The essays span many years and really cover the gambit of Sarah Polley's life. But it's not put together in a linear way. I think the collection would've been far more effective if we started with the essays that illustrate the beginnings of Sarah's life and work up to the present day. I would have connected with her story much easier if we didn't jump around all over the place.

I think the starts to explore some really interesting topics in each of these essays. But I think the book lacks a depth that could've made this an absolutely outstanding memoir. I think I'd still recommend it if you are a fan of essay collections about a person's response to trauma and how they have overcome what has happened to them in life. And I'd definitely recommend the audiobook, which Polley narrates herself. But this is not going to make it to my top favorite non-fiction reads, unfortunately.