Priestdaddy

Though it’s hard to say exactly what happens in this memoir, I can tell you it is worth every moment spent reading it. Lockwood’s sharp eye, poet's language, and anthropological approach to the absurdity of growing up as the daughter of a (married!) Catholic priest in the rectories of middle America make it impossible to turn away from. She tackles polarizing concepts like religion and patriarchy with the wicked humor and uncanny gentleness borne of having been raised to believe. An image came to mind that may be familiar to you: a big brother or sister holding down a sibling and letting a dollop of spit dangle just above the captive’s face and then slurping it back in. That is what Lockwood does with her family and religion. She wrestles them to the ground but (out of love I think) doesn’t quite let that spit fall all the way.