Overview

"As a child, Jacquelyn Shah recognized she could not count on anyone else for her needs, so she developed the attitude to ""expect nothing"" in order to avoid being disappointed. Then, in college, deep thoughts and literature led her to believe living was useless, so she attempted suicide. Amazed to still be alive, Shah develops a taste for living in a purposeful way. ""I wanted to live my years however I chose, and I think I wanted to be, was being, a little, wild. But I was definitely not lost."" Limited Engagement is a memoir by Jacquelyn Shah describing her life choices from childhood through adulthood, showing how her feminist consciousness developed, despite growing up in a dysfunctional family, to influence her writing, her living, her perspective on others, and her eventual formation of WAVE, Women Against Violence Everywhere."

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9798987785256

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Reviews

Can a woman be a tour de force? Of course, she can. Jacquelyn Shah certainly seems to be in her memoir, Limited Engagement: A Way of Living. What begins with a common childhood adventure into the wilderness behind her house becomes Shah's sometimes turbulent voyages to other places and relationships with other people, while trying to navigate the ever-judgmental opinions of her parents. Arching over everything are society's expectations for women, which Shah found limiting, suffocating, and rudely underestimating, seemingly even from the start. This memoir lulls readers into Shah's experiences by sharing moments from her personal quote journal and letters, only to jolt us back to reality with revelations that changed her life and her outlook on it. Shah does not shy away from the difficult, including her own attempt at suicide, the loss of her virginity, and the sexism she encountered on the job and from her husband's co-workers. This book could just as well be the story of most American women who are passionate about women's rights. What stood out to me as I read the top manuscripts for the contest is Shah's unmitigated passion for life, language, and peace. Kenneth Johnston Nonfiction Book Award Judge

Author Information

Jacquelyn Shah, iconoclast, pacifist holds: A.B. English-Phi Beta Kappa, magna cum laude, Rutgers U; M.A. English, Drew U; M.F.A. and Ph.D.-English literature/creative writing-poetry, U of Houston.She has received grants from the University of Houston, Houston Arts Alliance, and the Puffin Foundation. Her publications include a chapbook, small fry; a full-length book, What to Do with Red; and poems in Rhino, Gyroscope Review, The Texas Review, Vine Leaves (Australia), The Lake (UK), Plath Profiles, Rushing Thru the Dark, Autumn 2022, The Best of Choeofpleirn Press, Winter 2022, et al. She was Literal Latté's 2018 Food Verse Contest winner. Her publications include a chapbook, small fry; a full-length book, What to Do with Red; and poems in various journals.

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