Patchwork of Me by Gregory G Allen
If the road to finding yourself requires you to face a horrific truth, would you be willing to take that journey? That’s the decision that Sara Butler has to make in Gregory G. Allen’s thought provoking book Patchwork of Me.
A mysterious itch on her elbow earns Sara a referral to a psychiatrist. However, she is less than honest with her doctor. Sara doesn’t tell him about the dreams she has been having where she is the father of a dead little girl. She also chooses not to tell him about her upbringing as a foster child, living with various families in New Mexico before settling as an adult in Arizona. Her life in foster homes has so affected her ability to form relationships that she has only divulged bits and pieces of her past with her “Gay Mafia” friends Erick, Matty and female workout buddy Hahn. Sara’s inability to connect extends to her love life, which is merely a series of sex only encounters with “booty texter” Steve.
However, after two hypnosis sessions, first with Hahn’s seer friend Samara and then with her psychiatrist, Sara begins to realize that there may be more to her life story than she actually remembers. She starts to believe that her strange dreams might have a more disturbing and realistic meaning. The visions unearthed from her hypnosis sessions lead her on a cross-country trip to Maine to confront the horrible origins of her dreams and to finally uncover the lost memories from her years in foster care.
This is a book of three parts, the first taking place in Arizona, as the reader learns about Sara and the anxieties that affect her relationships. The second part is the road trip that takes her to Maine, and finally, her time in Maine where she tries to discover what is fact and what is fiction in her life.
Patchwork of Me is a very well written book, with parts one and three keeping me engrossed and invested in learning about Sara’s journey. But the road trip was definitely a lull and could have been much shorter, if it was necessary at all. Fortunately, the early chapters about Sara are so compelling, that it made it easier to get through the middle section of the book. In addition, the payoff of learning the full truth about Sara certainly makes the entire book well worth the effort. Allen allows the reader to share in Sara’s transition to someone who is finally capable of trusting and loving. This is Patchwork of Me’s greatest strength, and makes for a really good story.
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