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The Long Desperate Road

Willie Cordell
iUniverse (2009)
ISBN 9780595498499
Reviewed by Kam Aures for Rebeccasreads.com (06/09)


On the day that I first sat down to read “The Long Desperate Road” by Willie Cordell I only intended to read a couple of the short 1-2 page chapters and then put the book down to read more later.  However, I ended up reading close to half of the four hundred and ninety-two page book in one sitting.  Every time I finished one of the stories I kept telling myself just one more, just one more.  I found Cordell’s memoir to be very powerful, engaging and one that I did not want to put down!

This biography/autobiography tells the life stories of both Willie Cordell and her mother, Mary Jane Burgess.  In the 1940’s, Burgess (Mama) was abandoned by her children’s father and left to raise her very young children on her own.  Fearing that the children would be taken and placed in an orphanage, Mama fled to a hideout.  “She was eight months pregnant with number five, and the oldest child was only six years old.  She had not a dime in her pocket.  She had no automobile and would not have known how to drive it if she had.  She didn’t know exactly where she was taking us or how she would feed us when she got there.  She had her children safely with her, and that was all that mattered at the time.” (p. xi)

Reading about the family’s struggles and triumphs truly makes for an interesting read.  Cordell has so many different stories to tell and writes in a way that really gets your attention.  I recommend “The Long Desperate Road” to anyone who enjoys biographies/autobiographies/memoirs.  I also would like to note that at the beginning of the book Cordell mentions that the proceeds from this book will be put toward her five grandchildren’s education.  Her grandchildren are blessed to have such a caring and generous grandmother!

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