[Review] Watermelon Dreams by Augusta Elizabeth Fox Vesecky

Title: Watermelon Dreams
Author: Augusta Elizabeth Fox Vesecky
Publisher: Moon Books
Pages: 140
Publication Date: November, 30 2021

Although Watermelon Dreams evolved over several years, the finished book developed during the present coronavirus pandemic. Documenting the evolution of a sprawling, often eccentric, mid-American family, its heart, or central section, depicts another time of crisis: WWII, especially as witnessed by a very young child. Based on stories told to me as I was growing up, intimate memories arose in the act of writing as vivid, sensual recollections and fears of the unknown. Emotions for which I did not yet have words. Urgent voices on the radio were terrifying, especially since I knew somehow they were related to my absent soldier father. Feelings I did not understand, like jealousy and envy, combined with an anxiety that surfaced in hysterical nightmares. Throughout this instability and insecurity was the solid protection of my maternal grandparents, the love of my mother and older brother, the feeling of being sheltered from the chaos around us—in other words, family. Such is the comfort we seek now, and in the end will sustain us. 

Thanks to the publisher for a free copy of this in exchange of an honest review. This memoir is darling. The author has a lovely writing voice - very familial, and gentle. Reading this was much like listening to a beloved grandmother recollect family stories - as was the objective of the memoir itself. Instead of boring and trudgery - it may be hard for some to follow along with a book about another person's family stories, legacies, history, I was quite happy to follow along with these Watermelon Dreams. One line, early on in the book stuck with me throughout: "I began to ponder the whole phenomenon of memory, how it evolves out of one's mind, how a germ of 'objective' truth may be wrought over the years into layers of story, how the story itself becomes the 'truth.'" While reading I was reminded of my own family stories, and I too began to wonder, how are such stories truth? How, and who, had these tid-bits filed away and how have they changed? Watermelon Dreams would be a great read for anyone who would like to read about family, while also thinking about their own stories and families - and how we might want these things to effect us in our day to day.