Unpacking Secrets: How Classic Storytelling Reveals Hidden Truths in Suburban Memoirs
I’ve learned that it’s hard to find the proper container for an abuse story — they aren’t linear. Trauma is chaotic and has no beginning, middle or end. There are frequently complicated dynamics at play. Trying to force it into a standard narrative arc wouldn’t work because the form didn’t match the function.
I realized last spring that I could use O’Brien’s bead-on-a-string structure for his Vietnam War book as a framework for my own story. I could replace his characters with people from my life, and change the backdrop from the jungles of Vietnam to the suburbs of Frederick, Md., and Levittown, N.Y. It was a gamble, but pursuing the project felt worthwhile.
