If Only You People Could Follow Directions is a spellbinding debut by
Jessica Hendry Nelson. In linked autobiographical essays, Nelson has
reimagined the memoir with her thoroughly original voice, fearless
writing, and hypnotic storytelling. At its center, the book is the story
of three people: Nelson's mother Susan, her brother Eric, and Jessica
herself.
These three characters are deeply bound to one another, not just by the
usual ties of blood and family, but also by a mother's drive to keep her
children safe in the midst of chaos. This audiobook begins with Nelson's
childhood in the suburbs of Philadelphia and chronicles her father's
addiction and death, her brother's battle with drugs and mental illness,
her own efforts to find and maintain stability, and her mother's
exquisite power, grief, and self-destruction in the face of such a
complicated family dynamic.
Each chapter in the book contends with a different relationshipfriends,
lovers, and strangers are all playbut at its heart the book is about
family, the ties that bind and enrich and betray us, and how one young
woman sought to survive and rise above her surroundings.
