4 stars for writing, 2 for content.

This memoir was a quick, interesting read and was well written. The author is a writer, and she does write well.She writes with honesty and lucidity which I do appreciate. She's written other books, novels, which I will not be reading.

I liked the beginning part of her memoir here more than the second half.

One of the reasons I read memoirs is because I want to be inspired. I want to get a glimpse of people's courage. Of strength to overcome trials in life. I didn't find those things here.

Part of what makes me give only two stars for content is that I found Steinke somewhat dislikable. She is a little too goth for me, for one thing. I found it hard to relate to her crazy relationships and her judgement when it comes to friends and partners. She reminds me of an old childhood exfriend who was moody, phony and unreliable.

I wasn't sure whether to be encouraged at the end. She seems to find her faith again but it is unclear where she stands.


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Easter Everywhere is a memoir of writer Darcey Steinke's life as a minster's daughter, and how her faith changed and affected her life.

We start out by reading of a young Steinke who held weddings, funerals and church services for dead animals and neighborhood children, attempting to get closer to God and copy her minister father. Later, as a young adult, she turns to a world of beauty, boyfriends and attempting to fit in. We see her overcome her stutter, go to college, have an abortion,get married, and witness the birth of her daughter. We do hear about her work as a writer, although the book doesn't go into heavy detail about that.

As a fan of her work, I was thrilled to see similarities in her life that s he wrote about in her earlier books. There is a point where she lives in her father's rectory-very similar to Ginger in Jesus Saves. She mentions living out in San Francisco, just as the heroine in Suicide Blonde does, and we also hear about her waitressing in North Carolina just as the main character in Up Through the Water does.

The ending concludes with her rediscovering her faith with the help of a nun, who is far from the typical religious figure Darcey encountered growing up as a young girl.

I highly recommend this book to fans of the author, and for anyone interested in or undergoing a change in their religious beliefs. ( )

So many writers who write midlife memoirs these days, like Kathryn Harrison and Jeanette Walls, have dark, twisted family secrets to spill, and I'll admit that the element of emotional voyeurism is part of what makes reading memoirs fun. Still, it's a nice change to see a memoir that doesn't contain any plot elements that would interest the Lifetime network. Steinke's writing has a clean, fresh-air quality about it, particularly when she's describing her childhood. She's also led an interesting life; she's one of those people who seem to end up in the middle of interesting and unusual cultural moments – in this case the late-sixties Jesus movement and the late eighties New York "club kid" scene. People who've read a few of these memoirs might recognize her father, a bit of a dreamer who's seemingly unable to square his ideals with the realities of family life, from similar books, though Steinke works hard to make him a sympathetic character. The book's ending is a little diffuse than the last chapters of other coming-through-the-fire memoirs, but I'm pretty sure that Steinke considers her spiritual journey to be far from over, and real life can't always be plotted as neatly as most novels, anyway. ( )

This memoir by Darcey Steinke became sluggish towards the middle, and by the end, I was just skimming to see what became of her. The sections depicting her childhood were vivid and interesting, but I began to lose interest in her religious evolution by the end. The book is reviewed as being about her mother's nervous breakdown, and I was a bit disappointed at how her beauty queen mother was made into a minor character. It needs to be infused with a bit more of a Sedaris-esque quality before people are going to feel compelled to read it. ( )

raised by minister ( )