Blood, Bones, & Butter by Gabrielle Hamilton

I started teaching an essay by Gabrielle Hamilton in my freshman English class this past school year. It’s basically a mashup of the first couple chapters of this memoir–her growing up with her family and then being hit with divorce at eleven. The family splits and she’s never the same. That narrative works well in the classroom because it’s honest. Doesn’t hurt that the writing is great too. Once I got in a few chapters of Blood, Bones, & Butter, I really didn’t want to put it down. Even if I only had a minute, I’d flip it open to read a page. This is her life story, all about her experience at home, on the job, in school, and in her marriage. She’s from the Delaware/New Jersey border but moved to New York City as soon as she could. I could really relate to her feeling that no one was watching her or that she was out in the world alone. Her work experience was relatable to me too because I started working at 14 and pretty much haven’t stopped since. I get the whole work ethic thi