fighter pilot's daughter by Mary Lawlor

This memoir about a daughter growing up in the United States military was very interesting. Mary Lawlor is the daughter who writes her personal experiences of the Sixties. Mary Lawlor's father is a Fighter pilot. He's great at what he does in the military. When he comes home to spend time with his family, he's a different man. Mary Lawlor strives to explain his temperament in the memoir. She also writes about her mother, Frannie. Frannie is the one who carries on  while the father is fighting overseas. The Lawlors also experience battles at home without their dad. They are moved from place to place over and over again. Permanence seems like a word not written in a dictionary yet. Mostly Jack fights what we call  the Cold War. So there is much written about the Communists.Communism is the secret bogeyman hiding in a locked closet. No one sees it, feels it but there is this fear of what will happen if it jumps out of the closet.God forbid, if you should meet one.So, there is no way not to go to war.

The writing style of the memoir is wonderful. It reads like a novel. When the family moved from California to Alabama or some other location, I could easily feel their emotions. I especially enjoyed reading about Mary Lawlor's move to Paris, France. However, there are years when are father and she do not see eye to eye. At one point, he asks, "are you queer?" This gives an idea how people described people different from themselves during this period. Another question, "are you hanging with commies?"

I wasn't prepared for the fist in the eye that Jack gave his daughter, Mary. Her eye did bleed. Fighter Pilot's Daughter by Mary Lawlor might have been a bit glossed over. Perhaps, it was impossible for Mary Lawlor to write about all her pain overtly. . I also got the idea that Frannie and Jack might have drank a tat more than enough to get through his absences from home and the talk about Communism and war. I strained to get a clear picture of who Jack and Frannie really were underneath. Since the Sixties were different, I doubt if they thought about analyzing their inner selves. I don't know if Pop Psychology had been born yet.

I enjoyed this memoir. I hope there are more books to be written by Mary Lawlor. Her own words say it best. "I try to remember the feelings of our household, but there are too many shifts and changes in the stream of years to see well." Bravo! How many authors are willing to mention that their memories might have now gone astray as the years passed. Mary Lawlor seems like a Military daughter who grew up perfectly.

muhlenberg.edu/main/academics/english/faculty/lawlor

www.marylawlor.net