Kelly Corrigan is a young woman in her early 20s. She longs for adventure, for a chance to have interesting new experiences that you can only have when you “leave the house.” She and her college roommate decide to go on a round-the-world trip beginning in Taipei. The two are on the road for two months before they run out of cash while in Sydney, Australia. Corrigan pictured herself working in a bar or restaurant to save up money for the next leg of her trip; not playing nanny to two kids whose mother has recently died of cancer. And she certainly never expected to travel more than half way around the world to connect with her mother, of all people. But this book is all about difference between what you imagine and what is. About what you think is important, and what actually is important.
Corrigan uses a lot of flashbacks to talk about the type of
person her mother is. She makes it very
plain that she and her mother have virtually nothing in common. Her mother is a practical woman. One who doesn’t spoil her children and makes
them follow her rules at all times. Her
father, however, was always a pleasant, outgoing guy who loved to spend time
with his kids after work and called his only daughter “Lovie.” But as her mother liked to remind her
daughter, “Your father’s the glitter but I’m the glue.” Corrigan relishes the opportunity to be living
her own adventure away from her mother’s nagging but soon finds that her
mother’s voice is the one constantly giving her advice on how to care for the
Tanner children. As the weeks tick by,
Corrigan is struck by how the Tanner family learns to survive without a
mother. The harder she tries to help the
children, the more she thinks about her own mother and slowly discovers that
life’s true adventure is experiencing life within a family.
Glitter and Glue
is a quick read that is a different type of coming of age memoir. It begins with a young woman’s quest for
independence and excitement and ends with her deep feelings about the
importance of family. Glitter and Glue is available everywhereFebruary 4th, 2014.
