A review of “A Little Less Broken” in 100 words by Catherine Stover
Marian Schembari’s memoir about learning she was autistic at age 34 is called a “hybrid memoir” because it combines a personal story with biomedical research. But is it stirring? Do people love this book? Yes and yes. Schembari explained how she learned how to use metaphors, introduce a new character, describe the passage of time, and other literary techniques in an article in Poet & Writers magazine. She collected examples of great writing from her favorite books and studied them. She transformed her creative process by deciphering patterns and seeing a range of options. She taught herself how to write.
Work cited:
Schembari, Marian. A Little Less Broken: How an Autism Diagnosis Finally Made Me Whole. Flatiron Books, 2024, p. 44.