Martha McPhee revisits her past and family in new memoir
Martha McPhee is a successful fiction writer and has released seven books since her first book, “Bright Angel Time,” was released in 1997. She is also a creative writing professor of 21 years at Hofstra University on Long Island, New York. McPhee, born in 1964, grew up in Princeton, New Jersey, with four biological sisters. After her parents divorced, they both remarried someone with children, leading McPhee to become one of 14 children. McPhee later married Mark Svenvold, a poet and professor, and has two children.
On Tuesday, Sept. 12, McPhee released “Omega Farm: A Memoir.” At the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, McPhee and her family moved into her old family home in New Jersey, fondly referred to as Omega Farm, to isolate and take care of her mother who has dementia.
In the memoir, she revisits her past over the span of a year and a half as she attempts to fix up her childhood home. She also struggles with her teenage son, fights against debt and pushes against the memories that Omega Farm brings up. McPhee describes her novel as a “story of going home again, but can you go home again? And what does it mean to go home again?”
Immediately, the reader is shoved straight into the story of McPhee and her family moving into Omega Farm and jumping into the memories of it all. McPhee gives a general description of what Omega Farm is, what her childhood was like and what she does while there during the pandemic. As the story moves forward, she dives deeper into the details of her life in small pieces that go back and forth between the events of her childhood and the events of the pandemic.
The memoir is not in chronological order, which McPhee uses to her strength. At times, she will go back to an event already described in an earlier section of the book to dive deeper into her revelations of the event, giving it a deeper meaning than before. Readers experience these discoveries alongside McPhee, allowing them to resonate more deeply.
McPhee teaches journal writing at Hofstra University as one of her creative writing courses. She mentions in the memoir how her mother first urged her to journal when she was younger. Later, McPhee revisits the memory of her mother telling her to journal and realizes that her mother was urging her not only to journal but also to find her voice.
McPhee continues to teach Hofstra students the importance of journaling and all of its uses because of what her own mother taught her. “Omega Farm: A Memoir” has a journalistic feel to it that is appealing and intimate, even including a real entry from one of McPhee’s past journals.
At times, the events and memories of McPhee’s life can appear confusing, but it all comes together in the end as revelations and new details give the story new meaning. She still visits Omega Farm to help take care of her mother but with a new love and respect for her family home. “Omega Farm: A Memoir” is a great memoir about a woman revisiting her childhood and understanding more about her past and herself in the process.
