Review of I Know My Way Memoir

[Faith - Benny Any]

[Following is a volunteer review of "I Know My Way Memoir" by Theresa Marafito with Linda Odubayo Thompson.]

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3 out of 4 stars

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Have you ever imagined how blind people manage to pull through every single day? I Know My Way Memoir by Theresa Marafito with Linda Odubayo Thompson is a non-fiction story that revolves solely around Theresa. The book started off with the incorporation of information as regards the early life days of the main author after she was partially born blind. Going further, it shared the exciting memories she had with her birth family. She begins schooling, and the school authorities tells her parents that the preferred place for her to succeed will be best in a special school. At some point along the journey, she feels withdrawn, because she thought she was basically different from the non-blind students. But then, she braced up herself. Was she able to mingle well with other classmates? The story goes further to tell us of how she met Jerry, a partially sighted individual too, whom she got attracted to and later married. Along the journey, they welcomed their bundles of joy, Linda and Nance. Their marriage was going smooth and cozy, until some awful events began to set in, one of which was her losing her beloved soulmate to cancer. It was at this point, that she poured her heart out and typed everything in a typewriter. Years after, she seems to have met a man whom she got fond of. Was she able to fall in love again? Something tragic thereafter happened to her, which you wouldn't want to imagine. It was after all these events that the daughter "Linda" saw her notes and co-authored it.

The author's parents demonstrated a great degree of love towards her, despite the conditions on ground, which resulted in her gaining more confidence and sense of belonging. Is it her tenacity? It was worth emulating. I love the fact that she didn't give people the chance to pity her blind state, instead, she made them see the glowing, industrious, and positive side of her. That she was able to pull through and graduate from college made me fall in love more with her character.

Her character alone motivated me on the necessity to improve myself socially. I learnt this from the way she joined associations and participated in activities which helped to improve her social life, communication and confidence. Conclusively, the writer's storyline made the reader aware that any individual can succeed in life, if he or she really wants to. It's just a matter of determination and focus to be able to achieve that. This book also made me to be acquainted with some eye defects and treatment terminologies. This makes it an educative kind of book also.

On the co-author's part, her ability to compile the notes her mum left showed she valued her. I'm happy that she didn't let the lifetime memories of her mum go into thin air. I applaud her for that. However, I didn't see much of Nance contribution. I'm not suggesting that she would have been a co-author as her sister, but as the storyline progressed, I expected to see her own side of the tribute specifically about her mum, considering that she was also an integral part of her life. Only this reason made me to remove a star and give it a rating of three out of four stars. Excluding this reason, it was professionally edited and had a good flow of information.

I specially recommend this book to blind persons, individuals living with partially impaired people and all persons physically challenged, as this book will be a motivating and confident-boosting one to them.

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I Know My Way Memoir
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[Chinedu Nwakaji]

Remarkable review! I have always been of the opinion that the condition one finds oneself should not be a deterring factor for one to succeed. Success knows no bounds if its principles are followed. I love the construction of this book and look forward to reading it.
Thanks again for the review.

[Faithy_Goody_Star]

This is an intriguing review. Memoirs have a special place in my heart

[Faith - Benny Any]

Remarkable review! I have always been of the opinion that the condition one finds oneself should not be a deterring factor for one to succeed. Success knows no bounds if its principles are followed. I love the construction of this book and look forward to reading it.
Thanks again for the review.

Success indeed knows no bounds. Thanks so much for contributing.

[Faith - Benny Any]

This is an intriguing review. Memoirs have a special place in my heart

Thanks so much.