Holler Rat
A Memoir

This felt like two different books - one about the two sides of her family and how she felt pulled between them while she was growing up, and the other about her adult life as a performance artist struggling with mental health issues. I was much more engaged in the first and didn't always feel like......more

I enjoyed much of this—both the descriptions of family in Kentucky and life in the contemporary art world. Her feelings for her family in Kentucky resonate with my own for my family in Western Kentucky. I do agree, though, with the comments about this feeling like two different books.......more

Liftig is a notable Best American essayist, and her literary talents are on delicious display here. I loved this book. I dogeared so many pages I’m going to have to revise this later when I’m at an actual computer and then consider opening a dog shelter. If you have disposable income these are the pp......more

Liftig’s life story is interesting and well told, but I was particularly impressed with the writing itself. The things she doesn’t say. The woman who wrote this book is clearly not the same woman she was in the stories we’re told, but she doesn’t walk us through that shift. Liftig mentions how most......more

Such a compelling story about two worlds I know a little bit (NYC performance art; private school) and one (Kentucky) I don’t know at all. Much of it so difficult and painful (poverty, medical malpractice, miscarriage, and more), but Liftig is also quite funny, and her writing is gorgeous. Her Mamaw......more