Thomas's Reviews > Brace for Impact

Lots of great writing in this one. Brace for Impact reminded me a lot of I’m Glad My Mom Died by Jennette McCurdy, though in a quieter and queerer way. In this memoir, Gabe Montesanti shares her journey of finding an empowering queer community in her roller derby team in St. Louis. Concurrently, she writes about her relationship with her family of origin, especially her mother, who’s critical of Gabe in so many ways – of her body, of her queerness, and of her vulnerability.

I liked the honesty in which Montesanti wrote about her tumultuous relationship with her mother. I think there’s still stigma related to sharing about abusive parents; Montesanti plows right through that stigma and is real about the messy parts of her emotional arc, such as when she still wanted her mother’s approval or care. I also deeply appreciated Montesanti’s writing about finding queer community and in a way, chosen family. Though she writes about her wife Kelly a fair amount, it’s clear after reading this that Montesanti values connections outside of heteronormative romance and the nuclear family, which I resonate with.

Overall, props to Montesanti for a moving memoir. The prose isn’t flashy, and its earnestness made her story feel down-to-earth and solid. Toward the end there were moments where I wanted even more internal exploration and reflection on how her relationship with her mother – and where it stood at toward the end of the memoir – affected her, though perhaps that will be for a future memoir.

For the sake of transparency, I actually know Montesanti loosely. We actually met when she I think was in between her first and second year of her MFA program; I was an undergraduate who was doing a brief summer program at her grad program’s campus. We’ve been friends on social media since then and she’s been nothing but lovely, warm, and supportive of my various updates. I’m glad I got around to reading this and I wish her the best.