Memoir of Michael K. Willis

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Reviewed By Viga Boland for Readers’ Favorite

Have you ever read a book blurb, decided you’d like to read that book, gotten into the first section and thought, “This is going to be good!’ Then you move on a bit, change your mind, nearly chuck the book, but then something makes you pick it up again? That’s what might happen for you with The Life of Mikey by Michael K. Willis. Whether you persist will depend on three things: how you like Willis’ style, his love of describing the geography of the Appalachians where he grew up, and whether you enjoy remembering the political, economic and social changes from the 50’s to the 70’s.

Reviewed By Dr. Oliva Dsouza for Readers’ Favorite

The Life of Mikey by Michael K. Willis starts off as an ordinary memoir of the life of a boy stuck between a rock and a hard place. Mikey is born and raised in a Baptist preacher's family. His parents have a big brood to take care of with limited resources at their disposal. This ensures that all the children become objects on which the parents vent their frustrations. The children are subjected to violent beatings and verbal abuse on a regular basis. In spite of the bitterness at home, the kids get into a lot of mischievous endeavors and have their own mechanisms to cope.

Reviewed By Raanan Geberer for Readers’ Favorite

"All right, all you young’uns!" The Life of Mikey by Michael K. Willis tells the story of the author growing up as one of eight children of a minister in the Blue Ridge Mountains area of North Carolina in the 1950s and ‘60s. The family moved around a lot, eventually settling in Asheville, but Mikey and the others made friends wherever they went. The family’s life can be described as being in transition to modernity—they had a car, electricity, a telephone and eventually a television, but Mikey’s mother still canned vegetables herself and killed chickens by hand.

2022 Copyright. Michael K. Willis.
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