On the Outskirts of Normal

Well-written intimate memoir about the experiences, frustrations, and joys of a Central Texas English professor who adopts a transracial child while rehabilitating her house on the outskirts of a Hill Country town, all the while dealing with chronic health problems. Monroe has a knack for bringing o......more

White professor and author Monroe hangs her story on the peg of her adoption of a newborn black baby, but this book is about so much more than that. Why do smart women make so many bad relationship decisions? Are they doomed to repeat history? Monroe examines her fractured childhood and adolescence......more

Are you kidding me? I don't even know where to begin. Monroe's voice and writing style are sublime. A wide smile remained plastered on my face as I read this book, even as I was being brought to tears from the striking, human narrative. I wanted to call friends, grab strangers on the street, read en......more

A beautiful, heartbreaking, and hopeful book about how the family we end up living with and loving best isn't necessarily the family we were born into.......more

A fantastic memoir. I love that Debra writes openly about single-mama-hood, dating, and sex. I also love how she can interpret everyday situations as if she's reading a complicated text. Her vocabulary rocks, as does her capacity for startling insight and her sense of humor. This book was great comp......more