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| Without a Map: A Memoir | 
| Author: Meredith Hall
Publisher: Beacon Press
Category: Book
List Price: $14.00
Buy New: $7.76
You Save: $6.24 (45%)
New (25) from $7.76
Avg. Customer Rating:  50 reviews
Sales Rank: 10745
Media: Paperback
Edition: 1
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 256
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.7
Dimensions (in): 8.4 x 5.4 x 0.8
ISBN: 0807072745
Dewey Decimal Number: 818.609
EAN: 9780807072745
ASIN: 0807072745
Publication Date: April 15, 2008
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Condition: 100% Brand New! - Ships Today! Identical to Amazon's book in every way. Flawless! Not a cheap Remainder or Book Club Copy! *We recommend Expedited Shipping option for much faster mail delivery
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| Customer Reviews:
 Memoir Through Whirligig Eyes July 30, 2008
Meredith Hall writes "The whirligig [water bug] can synthesize these two distinct realms [above and below the water's surface], creating a cohesive picture of the world above and the world below. I've always envied this ability. Imagine being able to see what is before you and at the same time what lies beneath the surface, the obscured, the unannounced, the threatening.
"I wish that I had had these eyes, had been able to see both realms: what was at the surface and what might lie below, the warning signs. At sixteen I'd held only one view: my mother loved me."
Like Hall, most people have to have the wind knocked out of them before they change their worldview. The lucky ones have someone who comforts them until they're able to breathe again.
Hall isn't lucky...when she is sixteen. She's seduced by an older boy's attention, gets pregnant, and is rejected by her parents, whose worldview won't allow them to do anything else. A girl who gets herself pregnant even their girl)is forever trash. Their family doctor agrees with them. He tells Hall "Don't try to tell me who the father of this baby is. I know you have no idea. Girls like you never do."
How many girls have heard this? How many will hear this?
Age, distance, and writing talent have permitted Meredith Hall to examine her life from above and below, and then relate what she believes contributed to the way she was treated and her inability to change the course of events. It's not all her mother's fault, her father's fault, her own fault, or even society's fault. It's more complicated than simple blame.
Perhaps her readers will borrow her whirligig eyes to look at the lives of people they know. Perhaps their new understanding will breed compassion.
Note: I wouldn't change a word of this memoir.
 Could not get into this book. July 3, 2008
1 out of 2 found this review helpful
Did not like it. Writer seems to bounce from story to story. I could not really get into this book and ended up reading two other books in between. This book will probably end up on my yard sale box:(
Without a Map May 31, 2008
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
Without a Map: A Memoir Meredith Hall is so young and so unprepared for motherhood at the age of sixteen. In 1965 pregnancy out of marriage was so taboo. No one came to this girl's assistance. Everyone shunned her - parents, school, community and church. She has spent her whole adult life searching and the events of her life are forever influenced by that incident. This book lends iself to discussions of so many topics( relationships, identity, the sixties vs the present, adoption, and survival to name only a few.
without a map May 30, 2008
without a Map, captured how some women live their lives wondering every secound what happened to their child which was given up for adoptions.
Profound memoir May 9, 2008
This sad, yet inspirational memoir is moving and beautifully written. You won't be able to put it down and it will make you think long and hard about teenage pregnancy, abortion,and adoption. Meredith Hall tells her dysfunctional story with emotion and a small amount of well deserved self-pity. Some memoirs of late are written with such little emotion despite their sadness that I have felt the author was removed from their own story. Not so with Hall, she lets you feel her profound sadness and range of emotions and you will be so grateful that she included you in this amazing story.
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