Hippie Boy: A Girl's Story

Originally self-published, Ricks's memoir recounts a childhood spent ping-ponging between two unstable parents. The author's clear-eyed prose keeps the pages turning as she depicts life with a deeply pious and insecure mother and an abusive stepfather. These chapters alternate with those recalling summers spent with her salesman father, Jerry. They drove all over the Western U.S., sleeping in a van and selling locals tool sets using her father's "golden tongue because he can talk his way in or out of anything." These sections are particularly engrossing as she adeptly captures a dysfunctional relationship that's steeped in love. With such a strong and eventful timeline of events, it's easy to overlook the missing pieces in her narrative. Ricks writes in her own young perspective, skimping in the type of reflection that makes this genre so powerful. We are rarely offered the gift of hindsight and the motivations behind her parent's actions are often left unexplored. One wishes she'd been able to provide perspective on how she survived and what she thinks of it now. It makes for a litany of trouble and abuse that's well written and heartbreaking but ultimately not very revealing or empowering. (Jan.)