She Got Up Off the Couch: And Other Heroic Acts from Mooreland, Indiana by Haven Kimmel
This was a great sequel to A Girl Named Zippy. It’s interesting that in this book, as she grows up a bit, she figures things out about her family that she didn’t know as a smaller child. But this book… this book is for her mother. For the woman that got up off of the couch and made a life for herself. I’ll admit in the first book I had some not so nice thoughts about Zippy’s mom… but she redeemed herself, pulled herself out of her depression and got on with her life. Kudos to mom for being so involved with the book and getting her life back on track. A beautifully told story – I hope there’s another in the works – Zippy as a teenager – oh my!
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From the Publisher
The # 1 New York Times bestseller A Girl Named Zippy was a rare and welcome treat: a memoir of a happy childhood. Spunky, strong-willed, and too smart for her own good, Zippy Jarvis brought readers delight and joy. In She Got Up Off the Couch, Haven Kimmel invites us to rejoin the quirky and hilarious Jarvis family saga. Zippy is growing up and struggling with both her hair and her distaste for shoes. But this memoir strikes a deeper and more emotional chord, as now Kimmel shines the spotlight on her remarkable mother, Delonda. Courageous and steadfast, Delonda finally realized that she could change her life, and she got up off the funky couch in the den, bought a beat-up flower power VW bug (and then learned to drive it), and went back to school, which gave her the chance to gain both financial independence and, at long last, self-respect.
A true pleasure for old fans and new ones alike, She Got Up Off the Couch is a gorgeous encapsulation of an innocent time when a child didn’t understand that her mother was depressed or felt stifled, but just noted on her way out the door that Delonda was a fixture in the living room. Kimmel captures the seminal moments of her mother’s burgeoning empowerment with the full strength of her distinctive, deft storytelling, and with the overflowing sense of humor that made A Girl Named Zippy a favorite of readers everywhere.
