Book Review: "The Mighty Queens of Freeville" by Amy Dickinson

This memoir by "Ask Amy" columnist Amy Dickinson is a joy to read, a book I wish I could put in every woman's hands immediately. The pages slide away effortlessly, as Dickinson takes us through the stories of her life that bring us to the current day and her role as the next Ann Landers, a job she swears was just a lucky break.

Reading her memoir, you will soon understand that there are no lucky breaks, or if she had one, it was to grow up in the town of Freeville, New York, surrounded by a strong community of women, none of whom seemed to be very good at staying married, although they were all pretty darn great at family life.

This is the story of fathers who leave, husbands who disappoint, and the women who succeed despite the heartaches. Amy begins with her own heart-wrenching divorce, but never allows her narrative to get bogged down in self pity or sadness. Ok, there may be a little, but it is never depressing. Just how did she do that? I don't know. I can only say that this book is inspiring, the way real life can be at certain moments of our existence when we come across a person who has beat the odds and made some magic with his or her life.

Amy presents the unvarnished truth about her life and the women who inspire her, the hard choices people face, and the grace of small-town living. Somehow she manages to live both in Freeville and a series of big cities: London, Washington, and Chicago. Somehow she manages to be a both single mother and a successful writer. None of this is easy, yet she makes the answers seem simple and obvious. Each of her chapters seems to be a small vignette, a snapshot of an ordinary life that effortlessly tells the story of one extraordinary woman.

This is the sort of book that tells the truth about things, how she was raised in poverty, as she says "on a failed dairy farm ... of the ugly, muddy sort," how her marriage failed, and how she returns to Freeville for the support and strength of the community and ends up buying a less-than-perfect house. If there can be any criticism of Dickinson's book is that as readers we end up wanting more detail, more stories, more soul searching.

But she's a no-nonsense woman who doesn't read more into things than there is, perfect for the life of an advice columnist. She's the Ann Landers for the modern age, she's well on her way to becoming one of the Mighty Queens of Freeville.

The Mighty Queens of Freeville:
A Mother, A Daughter, and the Town that Raised Them
Amy Dickinson
Hyperion
ISBN: 978-1-4013-2285-4