Review of Halfway from Home by Sarah Fawn Montgomery

​Halfway from Home by Sarah Fawn Montgomery is a collection of essays about daughterhood, familial troubles, the pandemic, home, and her father. All of which are framed and analyzed under a nature and climate conscious lens. Montgomery uses language which draws in and imbues memory into every fiber of the collection. There is an expert use of braided essays, in essays such as ‘Forest for the Trees’ and ‘Taking Stock’.
 
The first essay, ‘Excavation’, acts a strong primer in digging up memories and moments by Montgomery, in which as a child she digs up treasure after treasure hidden in her family’s back yard. Only later is she told that the treasures were placed there by her father and not natural finds. In this way, Montgomery sometimes questions her experiences as they don’t match up with her father’s. ‘Excavation’ is also sectioned off using dig sites as places to begin her memories.
 
The essays discuss her tenuous and loving relationship she has with her father, which is the heart of the essays. She contemplates what it means to be home, to desire for it, and to know it won’t exist forever.
 
Final Rating: 4.5/5