Synopsis "know that i have lived (in English)"
Know that I have Lived is about a curious little girl that scoops up treasure, like a marble on a sidewalk and a toddler drowning in a stream. She rebuffs amorous advances, plays the Virgin Mary in a nativity play, and wins a bicycle that eventually leads to numerous athletic adventures and travel abroad. As a teen babysitter, she unexpectedly takes care of a shooting victim and later comes to terms with the attraction of money. She determines life is not for the weak or the artistic, but optimistically deals with setbacks while feeling the fear and living anyway. Know that I have Lived contains universal themes of curiosity, naivete and self-discovery. The main character has a unique world view, such as treasuring hand-me-downs and valuing self-sufficiency. Ultimately, Jill's resourcefulness, work ethic and self-reliance are her downfall, as readers see in the final chapter when she determines she has nowhere left to go but down -- to the ultimate escape territory of the Florida Keys. The story travels from the Midwest to the Northeast to Florida and from Switzerland to Italy and France, as Jill moves with her family according to a corporation's needs and as she explores beyond America's borders. Triathlons and bike races provide challenge and rewards. Seeing the Giro d'Italia and Tour de France twice in person allow the author to proclaim, "I can die now." Settings are richly conveyed as most evident in the chapter, "Lemme Hole' Your Peen-zel," in which a seventh-grader cannot understand English spoken in her new hometown. At this point, resourcefulness and self-sufficiency are a means of survival -- as further shown in "I've Been Shot," where the teen displays the personal toll of handling life's surprises. Readers who enjoyed Robert Fulghum's bestsellers, All I Need to Know I Learned in Kindergarten and It was on Fire When I Lay Down on It, will enjoy this memoir. Meaning in life, told with humor and compassion, has universal appeal and that is the author's aim: to delight readers everywhere.
