Little Avalanches, Becky Ellis
Little Avalanches, Becky Ellis
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Little Avalanches
A Memoir

Author: Becky Ellis

Narrator: Steve Menasche, Sara Van Beckum

Unabridged: 7 hr 33 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Publisher: Tantor Media

Published: 05/21/2024


Synopsis

As a young girl, Becky is forced to hide from phantom Nazis, subjected to dental procedures without pain medication, and torn from her mother again and again. Growing up in the shadow of her father's PTSD, she wants to know what is wrong but knows not to ask. Her father won't talk about being a Timberwolf, a unit of specially trained night fighters that went into combat first and experienced a 300 percent casualty rate. He returns home with thirteen medals and becomes a doctor, but is haunted by his past.

Seeing only his explosive and often dangerous personality, Becky distances herself from the man she wants to love. Yet on the eve of his ninetieth birthday, when Becky looks at the vulnerable man he's become, something shifts, and she asks about the war. He breaks seventy years of silence, offering an unfiltered account of war without glory and revealing the extent of the trauma he's endured. She spends the next several years interviewing, researching, and ultimately understanding the demons she inherited. Because his story is incomplete without hers, and hers is inconceivable without his, Ellis offers both, as well as their year-long aching conversation marked by moments of redeeming grace. With compassionate, unflinching writing, Little Avalanches reminds us that we are profoundly shaped by the secrets we keep and forever changed by the stories we share.

About Becky Ellis

Becky Ellis is a Timberwolf Pup. The daughter of a highly decorated World War II combat sergeant, she is a veteran of a war fought at home. She earned a BA in English literature at UC Berkeley and has over twenty years of experience in the publishing industry. She teaches writing in Portland, Oregon, where she lives, plays, and has raised three daughters. Little Avalanches is her debut memoir.


Reviews

Goodreads review by Reader on January 28, 2024

Few people get to know the version of their parents that wore footie pajamas and had only baby teeth. Even fewer with such vivid detail as I have gotten to read in my mother’s memoir. Intentional and heartfelt, my mother’s voice in Little Avalanches is an echo of her voice in real life. The care she......more

Goodreads review by Seth Vore on February 14, 2024

What a gift this book is! Ellis, through her amazing storytelling style and descriptive narrative, gives a voice to the so-called Silent Generation in this gripping story of trauma and, ultimately, reconciliation of the events that took place. Her poetic descriptions captivate, whether illustrating......more

Goodreads review by Brenda Lynch on March 09, 2024

Fantastic read, highly recommended! Reading “Little Avalanches” by Becky Ellis felt like holding up a mirror to my own life. As someone who grew up in the shadow of a father’s PTSD from his time as a Marine in Vietnam, the exploration of her relationship with her father, a World War II Timberwolf ha......more

Goodreads review by Chris on March 08, 2024

This is a must read for the families of the current generation of warriors. It is a roadmap for healing. It took Lou seventy years to tell his story, to start to heal. We call him and the countless young men and women, the greatest generation, but from Lou’s account you can tell he felt his experien......more

Goodreads review by Laura on March 13, 2024

This book reminded me so much of THE GLASS CASTLE, but with a bit more emotional distance from the author. This is the author’s attempt to understand her father’s flawed parenting choices as a result of WWII combat. The first part of the book depicts him as a womanizing asshole who constantly puts h......more