Sonja Livingston

Sonja Livingston grew up in poverty around Western New York during the 1970’s and 80’s. Her family lived in downtown Rochester, Albion, and the Tonawanda Reservation. While her experiences are unique, there are many who grew up in similar situations and still face the same issues. In this moving and passionate memoir, Sonja reflects on growing up in poverty in Rochester, having a single parent household with many mouths to feed and how community helped to support and hinder her growth all at once.

As someone who lives in and near the location of this story, I was really interested in Sonja’s experience growing up in the same neighborhood. Unfortunately, not much has changed in the neighborhoods that she had grown up in; however, I do believe that there is much more opportunity for people in the inner city, especially young people. Sonja tells her story very matter-of-factly and from a child’s perspective. I loved to see Sonja’s grit and determination to overcome- even if she didn’t realize that was what she was doing. Sonja’s stories range from humorous to heartbreaking, but always with the theme of marching forward. I was very intrigued by her views of her mother and the absence of her father as well as her sibling’s fathers, so much so that father became an abstract term. The community feeling in each setting that Sonja lived in was also interesting to me, how streets and Church became close knit lifelines. While Sonja’s life was harsh, she fought to overcome and was able to get out of the cycle that she seemed to be destined for.… (meer)

This rich collection of linked essays presents a constellation of women, a range of ghosts and deities and babies that hover above Livingston's childhood and continue to influence her. (Along the way, she happens upon such golden insights as the idea that a Farah Fawcett silver dollar coin might have been wildly popular in 1979.) Generous with lovely language and image, Livingston pursues the ideas and images of production and fertility, fear of pregnancy and then longing for it, virgins and miracles, ancient and modern goddesses in a pantheon from Carson McCullers to Ally McBeal, madonnas and Madonna, and then delves into her own pursuit of motherhood, noting that "Infertile is not correct because women bear fruit in ways beyond the womb." The story of writing comes next, developed through the wise guidance of writers including Judith Kitchen, running in a parallel track to the "blight of sorrow" carried by women and girls. A satisfying read that demonstrates the productive and fertile power of language and storytelling.… (meer)

Memoirs are my favorite reads, and Ghostbread is easily going to be added as a favorite! Sonja Livingston pours her heart and soul into her story of growing up during the 1970's in the Rochester, NY area. Living with her single mother and siblings, life was tough. The family was poverty-stricken and times were hard. There was always church in Sonja's life...a bright spot for her to meet friends and neighbors. It took me back to a time when you knew everyone on your block, all of the neighborhood kids played together, and were called in to supper when the streetlights came on. Livingston's prose is gritty and honest...this is a powerful memoir that demands to be read.… (meer)