Scrap: Salvaging a Family by Luanne Castle - Review

What can I say about such a wonderful and poignant memoir, and so uniquely told through flash non-fiction? I do not read many memoirs. I would read more if they were written like this one. If I ever write one, you can be sure that I will approach in a similar way.

Luanne's relationship with her father was very complicated. My heart screamed for her as she related her experiences of bearing the brunt of his anger. This short snippet from page 76 expresses her experience in just a few sentences:

"I have never felt unloved. Hated, frightened, anxious, and claustrophobic, yes. But not unloved. I need to remember this every day. I'll make and tie a memory bracelet around my left wrist so I see it whenever I do anything."

This book speaks of generational trauma, and the psychological effects of a society that places stigma on certain realities such as being born out of wedlock, etc. When Rudy (Luanne's father) was born to an unmarried woman and given a last name that typically indicates being a "bastard." that stigma followed him his entire life and was where his anger stemmed from. 

It was heartening to see that Luanne and Rudy had established a peace between them in later years. Though their relationship remained complicated, it was clear that love was always present, even if it was not always communicated effectively.

My mom is a memoir reader and I plan to pass this book to her. I know she will enjoy it, and she will also relate to an extent, as she had a complicated relationship with her father. She often speaks of dealing with his anger when she was growing up. Unfortunately, she never received the apology she should have, but my grandfather died suddenly so I'd like to think that it may have happened at some point. I know they did have a better relationship as he grew older, but it was reticent at best because they didn't really see each other often. 

I thank Luanne for sharing her life with us readers. Reading this book was definitely an experience. I feel it will lead me to examine the relationship with my father, which has become complicated in adulthood due to circumstances I'll stay silent on for now.

I highly recommend this book. You'll be missing out if you don't read it.

Read Luanne's guest post on her interesting writing process here.

Read my review of her poetry collection, Our Wolves, here.

About the Book

The hybrid flash memoir Scrap: Salvaging a Family explores the stain of childhood fear and anxiety on the adult spirit and the experience of reconciling with an aging or dying parent. A daughter has grown up in a household with an angry and abusive father. He keeps the secret of his biological father’s identity from his daughter for decades. When the elderly man faces his mortality, he finally names his father. The more the daughter learns about her father’s early life and origins, the more she understands him which leads to forgiveness for the past.

Advance Praise

“Borne of shame and trauma, the secrets uncovered in Luanne Castle’s hybrid memoir reveal her father’s complicated childhood and the impact it had on their relationship. Told in brief, strikingly vivid fragments, and through various perspectives and forms, the book as a whole presents a deeply moving and unforgettable account. We readers are privileged to bear witness to this emotional excavation, one that ultimately reminds us that love is powerful even when it’s painful and that forgiveness is the only way forward. Scrap: Salvaging a Family is a gorgeous and brilliantly original collection. I highly recommend it.” ~Kathy Fish, author of Wild Life: Collected Works

The book is available at ELJ Editions and on Amazon.

About the Author

Luanne Castle’s poetry and prose have appeared in Copper Nickel, River Teeth, Your Impossible Voice, JMWW, Grist, Fourteen Hills, Verse Daily, Disappointed Housewife, Lunch Ticket, Saranac Review, Pleiades, Cleaver, Moon City, Moon Park, Anti-Heroin Chic, Bending Genres, BULL, The Mackinaw, The Ekphrastic Review, Phoebe, MacQueen’s Quinterly, Gone Lawn, Burningword, Superstition Review, One Art, Roi Fainéant, Dribble Drabble, Flash Boulevard, O:JA&L, Sheila-Na-Gig, Thimble, Antigonish Review, Longridge, Paragraph Planet, Six Sentences, Gooseberry Pie, Switch, and Ginosko. Her story, “Garden Seasons,” was selected for Best Microfiction 2026. She has published four award-winning poetry collections, and her ekphrastic flash and poetry collection Hunting the Cosmos is forthcoming from Shanti Arts in fall 2026. Learn more at luannecastle.com.

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