“The Unwinding of the Miracle: a Memoir of Life, Death, and Everything That Comes After”

I’m on a memoir roll over here, mostly because I’m plugging away at a draft of my own and I enjoy seeing how other writers blend their stories with a narrative arc and use other literary techniques.

I’m not sure I’d give this memoir a solid recommendation, though I do think it’s a worthwhile read for many. Where it stands out is in the telling of an immigrant’s success story of pursuing the American dream. In fact, my favorite parts of the book were Yip-William’s description of life before her cancer diagnosis (colon cancer at age 37). Synthesizing her story while also offering insight into the examination of what it means to be diagnosed with a terminal illness as a young mother who is disabled (born blind), we see a unique play on the grief/cancer memoir and I appreciated the insight she offers.

Yip-Williams writes with a style that is so raw, you feel as if you’re reading her journal. As much as I loved the vulnerability this offers, I felt the book could use more editing, particularly in how the book is (or isn’t) organized and also in some of the long-winded rants that felt puzzling to fit in. Also, the author’s tone feels intended to be irreverent but read as snarky with a tint of rebellion and in a lot of ways that missed the mark for me.

“The Unwinding of the Miracle: a Memoir of Life, Death, and Everything That Comes After,” is exactly what the title promises, a love story to a life well-lived and the awareness of life’s fragile beauty that death grants as it approaches. In Julie Yip-Williams words: “I have lived even as I am dying, and therein lies a certain beauty and wonder. As it turned out, I have spent these years unwinding the miracle that has been my life, but on my terms.”