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Description
After suffering a series of severe panic attacks, Jen begins to explore her past. In doing so, she becomes enamored by the mysterious nature of her family's history. She discovers a pattern of mental health diagnoses and searches to define the cusp between her '90s working-class childhood and... read more
Ridiculously Simplified Synopsis
Summary
Musical Chairs
ISBN: 10: 0984259422
ISBN: 13: 9780984259427
After suffering a series of severe panic attacks, Jen begins to explore her past. In doing so, she becomes enamored by the mysterious nature of her family's history. She discovers a pattern of mental health diagnoses... read more (warning: may contain spoilers)
Memorable Quotes
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“I remember racing my sister toward High Street. We would just miss the bus that approached across the gravel lot by our back porch. Not that we had bus money or a place to go, but it was fun to try, to imagine stealing off into the world, to begin our adult lives. The big grey COTA bus would spit smoke at us and ease away.”
First Sentence
Throughout the summer of 2003 I repeatedly underwent what psychologists have since diagnosed as post-traumatic stress and panic disorder. A spiritually-inclined friend refers to the same summer as my rebirthing period. Still others, who claim to have had similar experiences, tell me that such episodes were probably a warning, my body’s way of telling me to adopt healthier eating habits, exercise more or quit smoking. At the time, all I knew was that the onset was swift.
Table of Contents
REVIEWS
Jen Knox is an exceptionally gifted storyteller, who can take the events of the past and craft them invariably into engaging and compelling narratives.
—Phillip Lopate, Author of Notes on Sontag
In Musical Chairs, expert storyteller Jen Knox has transformed her misspent youth into a seriously entertaining coming-of-age tale. Her rich reflections make sense of a complex past and her darkly humorous voice rings with truth. The art of memoir prospers in Jen Knox’s writing.
--Michelle Mercer, NPR contributor and author of Footprints: The Life and Work of Wayne Shorter and Will You Take Me As I Am: Joni Mitchell's Blue Period
This true tale of grit, survival and eventual rebirth of the psyche is engaging and inspirational, even to a small-town girl like me.
—Gretchen A. Phillips, Pearson Education
With her unique voice, Jen tells the poignant, yet raw, story of her journey to adulthood, living on the streets as a runaway and her ultimate struggle to establish her own identity as a woman who truly values herself. This is one of those books that lingers long after the last page.
—Heather McIntosh, author of Small Animals First
Jen’s a runner, a runaway. Following in the footsteps of her great grandmother, Glory, who defiantly set out on her own near the same young age, and finding commonalities of mental illnesses among the women in her family, Jen must’ve realized her course was set out for her organically.
In the writing of Musical Chairs, a memoir blatant and unapologetic, Jen attempts to make sense of herself within the larger family history. Yet, for all of the similarities Jen discovered between herself and Glory, there is at least one difference: Glory ran away from family, while Jen’s running brought the both of them back.
—Jennifer Lynne Roberts, playwright and writer, author of Beekeeper and Book of Taos
Errata
In the first printing of Musical Chairs there were three cut & paste errors on page six. This has been corrected since.
Authors & Contributors
- Jen Knox (Author)
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