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Hold Still

a Memoir With Photographs
Jun 01, 2015TheresaAJ rated this title 5 out of 5 stars
Sally Mann, infamous photographer of the controversial book, Immediate Family, shares her life in this original memoir. Unlike most of us, Sally actually unpacks the cardboard boxes that are the memorabilia of her family lines, the Mungers and the Evans. These two sentences from the Prologue sum up this fascinating book : " I will confess that in the interest of narrative I secretly hoped I'd find a payload of southern gothic: deceit and scandal, alcoholism, domestic abuse, car crashes, bogeymen, clandestine affairs, dearly loved and disputed family land, abandonments, blow jobs, suicides, hidden addictions, the tragically early death of a beautiful bride, racial complications, vast sums of money made and lost, the return of a prodigal son, and maybe even a bloody murder. If any of this stuff lay hidden in my family history, I had the distinct sense I'd find it in those twine-bound boxes in the attic. And I did: all of it and more." Rich with photographs and other family documents, this book is, above all, an ode to place -- the author's farm in Rockbridge County, Virginia.