Will I love Too Close to the Falls?

I love memoirs. I've read many and written one myself. Catherine Gildiner’s tale of her preteen years is a cut above. Too Close to the Falls begins unassumingly with an assortment of mildly amusing tales but soon ushers in several surprises. Characters that I thought we were done with had a habit of reappearing, providing nuance and depth to Catherine's slightly unusual circumstances. Superficially entertaining anecdotes led to deeper, more disturbing material; a cameo from Marilyn Monroe provides a spark of decadent glamour, but Gildiner is not content with reality as perceived by a child. The child matures, and so… show more.

Too Close to the Falls is hilarious and moving with a dark side that at first is undetectable. Gildner's memoir is richly absorbing and captures childhood's essence, where each experience is a lesson. In the 1950s, Too Close to the Falls is an exquisite, haunting portrayal of friendships, brushes with death, and how a schoolgirl affects the course of aboriginal politics. Memorable and skillfully told.