ACROSS THE DISTANCE

In this debut memoir, a woman explores her connection to others, meditating on love and loss, fulfillment and regret.  

Eight essays are offered here, each focusing on a specific relationship that impacted Kemp’s life. The opening essay describes a relationship with Tommy, a man whom the author met through internet dating. Kemp describes the arc of their emotional journey, from the initial thrill, “the arousal I felt, that was beyond words,” to the sadness found in separation, “our souls over-lapped and then tore in the leaving.” Other essays are dedicated to the author’s father, mother, and brother. Kemp bravely faces the memory of her father’s death when she was 13 years old. Meanwhile, in an essay entitled “The Creek—Margaret,” the author describes the evolution of a personal friendship from childhood into adulthood. “Wide Open Spaces, Clara” celebrates the freedom of horse riding and the guidance of a former mentor. In her final essay, Kemp turns her attention to her own odyssey by striving to understand the value of her experiences and recalling her entry into the field of psychology. This is a deeply introspective memoir that painstakingly explores the author’s joys and tribulations. Remarking on her father’s death, Kemp writes poignantly: “I think at one point I imagined my last words to you would be something remarkable, meaningful. I’m sorry they weren’t.” The author’s writing is at its most impactful when it is simple yet loaded with emotions. But Kemp is partial to long, unruly sentences in which feelings become obscured by a glut of words: “I was familiar with the sensations that laced me inside, those which accompany sweeping extremes of responses from others that so often stem from a fixed and embedded wounding that will not nudge.” In contrast to this dense language are moments of startling, sage observation: “We have pieces of ourselves, scab-like and ill-fitting, that need to soften and shed if we are to continue deepening into who we really are.” Kemp is a smart writer who explores emotions with a poetic tenderness bolstered by psychological understanding. Unfortunately, the author’s wordy passages make this an often arduous read.

A boldly conceived, insightful, but verbose account of a turbulent journey.