Memorial Drive: A Daughter's Memoir

By Natasha Trethewey

ONE OF BARACK OBAMA'S BEST BOOKS OF 2020
WINNER OF THE ANISFIELD-WOLF BOOK AWARD
SHORTLISTED FOR THE 2021 CARNEGIE MEDAL IN NON-FICTION

'This will be read for many, many years to come as a classic not just of the memoir genre but of contemporary writing' Simon Schama

'The work of a poet. A great poet' Financial Times

'A must-read classic' Mary Karr

'Trethewey writes elegantly, trenchantly, intimately as well about the fraught history of the south and what it means live at the intersection of America's struggle between blackness and whiteness. And what, in our troubled republic, is a subject more evergreen?' Mitchell S. Jackson


Natasha Trethewey was born in Mississippi in the 60s to a black mother and a white father. When she was six, Natasha's parents divorced, and she and her mother moved to Atlanta. There, her mother met the man who would become her second husband, and Natasha's stepfather.

While she was still a child, Natasha decided that she would not tell her mother about what her stepfather did when she was not there: the quiet bullying and control, the games of cat and mouse. Her mother kept her own secrets, secrets that grew harder to hide as Natasha came of age.

When Natasha was nineteen and away at college, her stepfather shot her mother dead on the driveway outside their home.

With penetrating insight and a searing voice that moves from the wrenching to the elegiac, Memorial Drive is a compelling and searching look at a shared human experience of sudden loss and absence, and a piercing glimpse at the enduring ripple effects of white racism and domestic abuse. Luminous, urgent, and visceral, it cements Trethewey's position as one of the most important voices in America today.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing
• Release date: Jul 28, 2020
• ISBN: 9781408840030

Natasha Trethewey

Natasha Trethewey is a former US poet laureate and the author of five collections of poetry, as well as a book of creative nonfiction. She is currently the Board of Trustees Professor of English at Northwestern University. In 2007 she won the Pulitzer Prize in Poetry for her collection Native Guard.

Reviews for Memorial Drive

[viviennestrauss · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

I listened to the audio version, read by the author - excellent but truly heartbreaking story of her mother - a victim of domestic abuse with the worst possible outcome. I had previously read a poetry book by the author and had added this to my reading list.

[waldhaus1 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Trethewey opens a window onto her soul and her mother’s soul. Written with the insights and clarity of a poet it is not a long book but a very full book. There are unanswered questions, questions about her father and about her book by I understand this as really being about loss coping with loss and reaching for understanding.

[carolfoisset · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

The grief, the pain, all described in such beautiful prose. It is a heartbreaking read, but so worth it.

[bell7_1 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Natasha Trethewey is one of my favorite poets, so when I saw she had written a memoir I was really excited to read it. This book, though short, packs a powerful punch as the author explores her relationship with her mother, piecing together events that led up to her mother's murder at the hands of her stepfather.Fans of Trethewey's poetry may be aware of the outline of the story, and even those who don't will find out where the story is leading soon. This is a riveting book, reflective and raw, as Trethewey attempts to make sense - this time in prose - of a defining trauma in her life. Reading her memories, her gaps of memory, and transcripts from the trial, I was crying by the time I finished. This memoir touches on issues such as race and domestic abuse, all through the prism of a daughter's love for her mother. I'll be recommending it far and wide to my library patrons.

[hemlokgang · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

A beautifully written memoir of a daughter losing her mother to spousal abuse. Yet it is so much more than that. It is the story of someone reclaiming their life after tragedy. One of the best opening lines ever summarizes the author's experience. "The past beats inside me like a second heart." So true, for each of us!

[kayanelson · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

I heard this author speak and she simmers with sadness and raw emotion. She's a very creative person and I am so sorry for her loss, even all these years later.I listened to this book and think I would have preferred to read it. A few parts on the audio dragged for me.

[msf59 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

In Atlanta, in 1985 the author's mother was killed by her ex-husband. This heart-breaking memoir details Trethewey's childhood and how she dealt with the grief and the loss that has haunted her through the years. The writing is beautiful. I also read and loved her poetry collection, Monument: Poems New and Selected.

[bookworm12_1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Haunting and heartbreaking, the author recounts the brutal murder of her mother by her stepfather. For those of us who know anyone who has dealt with abuse of any kind, it’s hard to read at times. She has an incredible gift for bringing beauty to descriptions as she works through her grief. “In some versions, Cassandra's fate is that she is merely misunderstood--not unlike what my father imagined to be the obvious fate of a mixed-race child born in a place like Mississippi. ‘She was a prophet,’ he told me, ‘but no one would believe her.’”

[etxgardener · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

The mother of poet, Natasha Trethewey was murdered in the parking lot of her apartment on Memorial Dr. in Atlanta in 1985 and this beautifully written book is the poet's attempt to come to terms with not only her murder, but also the life with an abusive husband that led to her killing. It is also a poignant story of the love between a mother and a daughter, and the many, many legal inequities that keep women from being protected from violent men. That Trethewey has emerged from the horror of her early life is a testament to both her strength and her creative powers.

[akblanchard_1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Poet Natasha Trethewey’s Memorial Drive is a brief, evocative book about a murder—her mother’s, at the hands of her deranged stepfather. The narrative starts off slow, but as it progresses, it moves with the inexorable pace of a Greek tragedy. Hard to take, but rewarding.

[beth.clarke · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Narrated by the author, the audiobook was superb. I could hear the emotion in her voice and it just captured what she was feeling while she wrote this amazing memoir. Beautifully told, heart wrenching at times, definitely a five star book!

[rmarcin-630843 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Heartbreaking memoir of a daughter recounting life with her mother, father, and stepfather - the man who would kill her mother. The writing is raw and the sadness is palpable. Joel, Natasha’s stepfather, was abusive, and although Gwen, Natasha’s mother, reported the abuse to the police, they neglected their duty the day she was killed. Natasha writes this memoir 30 years after the death of her mother, and her emotions and guilt over her mother’s death are laid bare. #MemorialDrive #NatashaTrethewey