I honestly wanted to like this one more, but the writing and editing were pretty uneven and I often had to flip back to figure out whose story I was reading and when. Her writing style was also uneven, although I think a good editor could have made a lot of that better. Regardless, I persevered because I wanted to try understanding her and her family a lot better. The author was raised mainly in two places--off-the-grid Minnesota in a religious commune known as The Body and in the Appalachian Mountains of Eastern Kentucky where both her parents and grandparents were raised, going back many generations. The timeline and point-of-view go back and forth between Shawna's past and current timeline, her parents' timelines, and it covers their childhood as well as when they met and became married. While that contributed to the occasional confusion, I thought that worked for the story she was trying to tell. But the transitions from one timeline to the other were often abrupt and I would have to go back and make sure I was finished with one character and switch over to the new character. This was not a happy story and yet, I didn't feel like Shawna was bashing her Appalachian family necessarily. I think she was more saying that her parents and their parents and so on were very limited in the opportunities they were given, and while she wonders just how different their lives might have been, she also understands that their choices were extremely limited. She talks much about her relationship with her father, which, at best, was her desire to please him. She does acknowledge that he loved her, and she loved him, but they could not live together. While you can read her story and become very upset about how he abused her, she also points out that she held some responsibility for the strife that was always between them. I don't know, though. She was a child. And until she literally marries a man she doesn't really love so she can get away from him, he never stops with the abuse/discipline. In some ways, this book reminded me of Educated by Tara Westover, especially in the author's relationship with her father. This book was sadly not as well-written as that one. I had a harder time connecting with Shawna, her parents, and her grandparents. But there were definitely passages that I became completely immersed in, which tells me that this book could be so much better with appropriate editing. I also liked what she had to say about religion in her life. Despite the extreme views of The Body, she truly loved learning about God and his place in her life and while she is now a practicing Catholic rather than a follower of The Body, she feels a strong connection to God and always feels unsettled when she spends too much time away from a church body.

I think I read an interview with the author where she says she may write another book that covers the next 20 years of her life, and I would honestly be interested in that. This book ends with her marriage to her first husband, but I would love to see how she ends up with who she is now, which she summarizes at the end of this book. I loved her second husband and would love to see how they reconnected.

Would I recommend this book? If memoirs are your thing and you'd like to read the story about a woman from the Appalachian area who experienced hardship not just in her life in that area, but also in a religious commune, this might be your thing.

I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.

Shawna Kay Rodenberg's memoir covers a lot of territory as she strives to make sense of her dysfunctional family. It really did feel like reading a novel as other reviewers have described it. I struggled a bit to keep track of who was who among the generations of her family. It appeared that each generation had aspired to make a better life but couldn't help repeating the mistakes of the previous one. Even though Shawna was a very bright girl, she struggled to succeed in college due to her spotty education while in the cult and later on in the Appalachian schools. I admire her for the strength she found to survive all the abuse she endured. Thanks to NetGalley and Bloomsbury Publishing for the opportunity to read and review this inspiring memoir.

DNF

I really wanted to like this one. I have read so many books about those that come into the backwoods of Kentucky's Appalachian country and learn about their culture and come to recognize the goodness in these people and the opportunity to improve their lives with learning. I was excited to see it from the perspective of a child growing up in this culture. I think there is a lot of goodness buried in this memoir- it's just unfortunately that... buried. There's love, hatred, abuse, perseverance, religion, and just plain survival. This memoir jumped around a lot, which was hard to follow. Some of the story lines felt as though they were placed to be inflammatory, not tell the story.

I read more than 2/3, skimmed a bit more, then just gave up. I truly wish I could say more positive about it- as I think it's a story that is worth sharing.

Thanks to NetGalley and Bloomsbury Publishing for an ARC in exchange for my honest review.

This account of growing up as a dirt poor Appalachian is a completely different memoir from Hillbilly Elegy but is just as good and has just as much resonance.
The author recounts her childhood spent as an inconsistent part of a deeply religious sect, in which she could never pass muster, least of all with her father. The abuse and discord that made up their relationship takes up a good chunk of the book and for good reason. The constant battle her father faced between acting out in love for his family and being unable to exorcise his own familial demons is a rough but compelling read.
The perspective of a female desperate to get away from the hometown expectations set for her, while simultaneously terrified to leave them was illuminating and appreciated. I would love to see a part two, describing the author’s experiences once she left home for good.
Thanks to #netgalley and #bloomsburypublishing for this ARC of #kin in exchange for an honest review.

This memoir describes Shawna Kay Rodenberg’s early life as a member of The Body, a small, religious community of which Shawna’s parents were members. Her father’s constant searching led them from the Appalachian Mountains to The Body’s community in Minnesota, and then back to Kentucky. Her life was chaotic and difficult, ruled by poverty and brutality, and Shawna’s escape to college and her subsequent failure there bring her back home, confused and hurting.

I normally enjoy memoirs, but this one left me feeling flat. I was hoping for something along the lines of Jeannette Walls’ The Glass Castle, and that wasn’t what I got. Kin is disjointed, somewhat difficult to follow, and I just wasn’t able to immerse myself in the story.

** spoiler alert ** I read this book weeks ago and it still disturbs me. I thought I was going to read about life growing up in the cult, "The Body". In part that is true but there is much more to it.
My gut reaction is the child Shawna, now well accomplished adult, was horrendously abused by her father and others and no one protected her. It made me angry. To me Shawna was obviously sexually abused by a 'teacher' in the cult and no one did a thing for her, just covered things up and packed him on his way. Was she the only abused child?
I couldn't write a review directly after reading the book which at times is well written. I could see the characters. Other portions are off in other directions and disruptive to the flow of the memories. In my opinion her fathers Viet Nam experience didn't deserve a place in the book and didn't need to be included.
Having a dual story with her mother's perspective was interesting but in a memoir how can the writer have her mothers memories?
The book brought out reactions in me. That's easy to say. It also reminded me of a work of fiction I read years ago that also hit me hard emotionally. The Beans of Egypt Maine by Carolyn Chute was a hard read. Kin is an emotional read for me personally. It is not at all what I expected.
I think parts of Shawn's story will stay with me for awhile. Is it a good read, for me, not really. Is it memorable, yes, disturbingly so.
Would I read it again or share the book with someone I know, not very likely. I just feel so sorry for that little girl who no one, especially her mother, protected. I picked the book believing I'd learn about this particular cult and what growing up in it was like. I didn't feel that was really the purpose of the memoir after all.
I received an advanced reader's copy from the publisher and NetGalley. This is my own personal opinion about it.

This memoir was very interesting and attention grabbing. I very much enjoyed it. it was well written!

A well written memoir with an odd hiccup or two which attempt to memorialize pivotal moments and relationships in her parents lives. In cogent and descriptive language she reveals life as viewed from her upbringing, a dysfunctional religious and cult upbringing stalked by a father who only perceived failings rather than value, and by poverty, financial and intellectual. Her intelligence is muffled by family and a deficient education that left her feeling,, and being,, unprepared for success in life. Repeatedly suffocated by a world she cannot escape, she turns toward an improvident proposal and unexpected pregnancy as if in answer to a dream. We do not see her break free, although break free she does, but we see a narrow world view through her eyes and experiences. It is moving, sorrowful portrait, unspoiled by self pity. Her dream for herself are our dreams for her. A hopeful, if melancholy, look at an Appalachian family history.

Shawna Kay Rodenberg's memoir, Kin, tells the story of her experience growing up in Appalachia, beginning with her childhood in the religious cult The Body and alternating through her grandparents' and parents' childhoods.

Reading this memoir felt a bit like coming home. As an Appalachian myself, at times, I recognized Rodenberg's experiences so acutely. Her Appalachia was not my Appalachia, but in some ways, it was. I loved her descriptions and her prose was quite beautiful at times.

This was not a book I could read quickly. But it is worth taking your time with this one. It took me until about halfway through to really sink my teeth into this memoir. I think part of it was that it took me a while to get into the rhythm of the time changes and some of the narration/character changes. This a moving memoir of what it's like to be fiercely devoted to your family no matter the difficulties. Their relationships may be difficult but family always comes first. This is a compelling story. I always devour any book on Appalachia that I can. It is so critically important to offer more voices to represent the diverse region of Appalachia. Appalachians deserve to tell their own stories beyond JD Vance. We are so much richer and more nuanced than how he portrayed us. Shawna Kay's memoir offers a much-needed additional voice at the table.

Thank you to NetGalley and Bloomsbury for providing me a copy of an e-arc.

Memoirs are not a genre that I read very often, but every now and then one pops up that I feel would be very interesting to dive into. Kin by Shawna Kay Rodenberg was one o those. I was especially curious about the religious group, The Body, that Shawna was a part of for most of her youth. It’s something that I’ve heard things about every now and then, but I’ve never heard someone talk about these experiences first-hand, so I was excited about that.

Overall I felt that the book was a little disappointing. It lacked a certain coherence throughout the book and felt more like the exploration of separate characters and events instead of a cohesive plot. In my opinion the story never worked towards a certain conclusion of revelation, which had me lose interest at some point.

It is certainly an interesting story, but I think it could have been told better. Someone should have picked up all the loose pieces of this memoir and made into a complete puzzle before it was published as a full book.

In so many ways, this is not an easy book. It is filled with trauma, abuse, poverty, and a sense of 'the more things change, the more they stay the same.' The story is also not told in a linear fashion. We jump generations, locations, and years in the same lifetime. I know many people didn't like this aspect, but I felt it went perfectly with my understanding of the author and her early life: there was always a disconnect and an aura of hyperactivity.

Ms. Rodenberg's life has not been an easy one. She had an abusive father, who in turn had an abusive father, and so on. Her mother also came from a dysfunctional home, although she came out of it to be more gentle. Of course, she was aware of the abuse and didn't try to stop it, so there's that. It's difficult living with people who cause emotional and physical pain and explain it away by saying they're doing it because they love you. And harder to have other people stand by while it happens.

The book does end in a hopeful way. If it hadn't, it would have been impossible for me to read.

My thanks to Bloomsbury Publishing and NetGalley for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

I love a good cult memoir. Or a dysfunctional family memoir, or tales of a hard childhood. Educated, Glass Castle, Running with Scissors (was that a memoir?) sign me up! So of course I had very high hopes for Kin by Shawna Kay Rodenburg. And I tried to like it, I really did. But the book itself didn’t quite match up with the description.

Sure, Kin was about a woman who had grown up in a dysfunctional family who had belonged to a cult and escaped. But it did feel way less dramatic than the normal cult escape. But then again, who am I to judge what’s tramautic, and what’s not?

But what was left is the Shawna grew up with a mom that seemed cool about half the time, but did nothing to protect her from her crazy weirdo dad who had some strange relationship with religion and beat her with a belt, long into her teen years. She had a sister she loved, but felt as if she were her keeper, and above all actually obeyed her parents and tried to make the most of her childhood. And still talks to her parents, it seems.

And all that might be interesting but then there was this whole part about a soldier in Vietnam that comes together later, but it doesn’t start until halfway through the book. And ultimately I was just kind of confused.

The silver lining? I could see this story successful adapted to film. It definitely had a Hillbilly Elegy feel to it. But the book, it just didn’t do it for me. And it set my reading goal for the year back a couple books since I kept putting it down and limped my way to the end of the book.

Special thanks to Bloomsbury Publishing and Netgalley for an advanced e-book in exchange for my honest review. This one is out June 8, 2021.

This memoir has its moments, but it’s strangely lacking a point of view. Rodenberg spends much of the time talking about growing up a part of The Body, a strict religion in which her family had to sell everything and live in poverty. Girls were required to wear dresses and be subservient to men. Rodenberg at times seems to think this sort of inequity might be a bad thing, but it also sounds like this role of femininity largely works for her even after she ultimately gets educated. Toward the end she mentions that she bounced in and around many religions, always feeling a little better when she was leaning in toward some sort of spiritual practice. She both has anger toward the more sophisticated city folk she encountered in her youth who made her feel inferior while she also reinforces some stereotypes of growing up in Appalachia with her own story of constant physical abuse from her father. As part of his verbal abuse, he’d accuse her of using drugs and having an interest in sex, and then she would smoke weed and engage in sex in less than loving committed relationships.

The narrative bounces around in time from letters her father sent while fighting in Viet Nam, her mother’s perspective on getting married at 17, and the author’s story of growing up in a family where she fully expected to get beaten with a belt that would leave permanent scars, but she apparently has no anger about that. Thus, the book reads like a homework assignment from a therapist—it’s great that Rodenberg had the opportunity to work through the ugly elements of her life story, but it doesn’t make for a particularly compelling narrative.

Thanks to NetGalley for the opportunity to read this memoir, which RELEASES JUNE 8, 2021.

While I found the story interesting, the writing style didn’t resonate with me. Maybe it’s because I had a hard time identifying with the choices thr author discusses or with her family situation in general. Or maybe I just couldn’t really understand. So interesting story but not for me,

I have read similar memoirs like,this and each one is fascinating. Shawna had a disrupted childhood, being dragged around to different places while her family followed a religious group. They finally settled back in eastern Kentucky. I found her descriptions very imteresting, but not surprising of the culture and people. Her family ties are strong and although there was a lot of violence, there was a lot of love from her nuclear family and extended clan. I think some of the situations were of her own self sabotage, but I was glad to see her stand up to her father who was often overbearing and abusive. Life is what you make of it ans I think the author has found her best life. I did like all,the references to Laura Ingalls Wilder and many other references to growing up in the 70s-80s because she is the exact age I am.

I really enjoyed this book! This book was generously provided to me through NetGalley. Highly Recommended!

I loved this memoir. Rodenberg tells the story of her kin as well as herself, really allowing the reader to understand the complexities of the relationships. The shifting POV kept the story moving and I came to care about everyone in the family, not just the narrator (though of course I rooted most for her).

Kin
A Memoir
by Shawna Kay Rodenberg
Bloomsbury USA
You Like Them
Bloomsbury Publishing
Biographies & Memoirs | Nonfiction (Adult)
Pub Date 08 Jun 2021 | Archive Date 28 May 2021

This book needed a good editor. I found the book to be rambling and not coherent. In memoir's, I like to see it written in the author's words but too much time was spent on telling about history before she was born. It just didn't flow for me and I won't be recommending it. Thanks to Bloomsbury USA and Netgalley for the ARC.

Thanks #netgallery. This memoir was a hard read for me. I struggled through the middle and almost stopped a couple of times. After finishing, I can't say I recommend this book. I was initially interested as someone who grew up in the South. I hoped for the "humanity and beauty" that were promised in the book description.

The book was all over the place. I had a hard time following what time period or which person she was talking about at times.