While Robert Norris was growing up, his mother, Kay, set an example for him as an independent thinker. At a time when divorce was uncommon and looked down on, she got divorced. She stood up to the priest who refused her communion after she remarried.  She worked hard throughout her life and wasn’t prone to complaining about whatever came her way.

Robert grew up to join the Air Force during the Vietnam War, then found he couldn’t support the military. As a conscientious objector, he was tried and spent time in a military prison. Afterward, he wandered through different cultures and countries trying to find a place he felt he belonged. That journey ended in Japan, where he found fulfilling work and met the woman who became his wife.

Robert tells his own tale as well as his mother’s story in the memoir, The Good Lord Willing and the Creek Don’t Rise: Pentimento Memories of Mom and Me. The tale shines a light on cultural norms during times of the not so distant past and the consequences paid by those who bucked them. Kay and Robert both show tenacity as they work their way through the challenges life serves up.

I would have preferred fewer small details of Robert’s home and work life and more of the emotional meaning behind his experiences, but all in all the tale is an interesting look at a mother and son who supported each other through good times and bad. To learn more about the author, you may want to check out his guest post on how his mother inspired in him a love of stories.

The author provided a copy of this title in exchange for my honest review.