SCPL Online NonFiction Book Club discussion

Expanding a bit on my earlier discussion topic this week, I pose the following question:

I think it goes without saying that Liz Pryor's race, education, and socioeconomic status have an impact on her experience at Gwendolyn House. Should any of that matter when we consider the story she tells in this memoir? Do any of those factors make her story more or less credible?

Have a wonderful weekend, book club members!

~Diana~

I think that her social and economic status had a huge impact on her experience at Gwendolyn House.
She has never experienced want of food , health or shelter. Despite her parents divorce and the story alluding to having a life style change and her mother having to work her mom still maintains living in a large suburban home.
She goes from privileged lifestyle to an institution for pregnant teens who have all been in some kind of social legal trouble and poor lives. Those girls had very different lives. They don't have people sending them food, clothing and other things to make their stay better. They don't have people visiting them (although Liz's parents certainly did not do a bang up job of finding her a nice place to stay to have the baby )
I think the factors of her privileged life and being placed in such circumstances make the story a powerful one. Liz goes from having a beautiful vacation with her siblings, Dad and Step mother to a home of unwed mothers who are delinquents in a few short days. She has to hid from friends and family with very little support and find a way to cope and live until her baby is born.
She is treated in a horrible way by family and staff. But it shows how the other young girls are treated as well and it brings to light what should not have been for any of these girls. Liz manages to survive, make a difference and learn to love the girls she is with.
She seems to manage to come out of the situation not damaged emotionally more but stronger.

I agree, Jo. I think that the stark difference between the life Liz leads before Gwendolyn House, and the life she finds upon arrival, make this story that much more powerful. I also agree that this was not really a good place for any of the girls, no matter their histories or situations. This experience certainly seems to have made Liz stronger, but I do wonder what became of the other girls. I hope that some of their lives improved for the better afterward as well, although they had much greater difficulty to overcome.