It Starts with a Fish by Emily Kemme

Title: It Starts with a Fish

Author: Emily Kemme

Published on: 22 August 2022

Genre: Non Fiction

After ten years of blogging, Emily Kemme began to notice a change in her posts. Voicing her individuality had evolved from what some people labeled a troublesome personality trait into self-assurance, which she now applies daily to a variety of situations. Whether it’s managing wayward collies, home remodeling, cooking dinner, or raising young adults with a strong sense of who they are and where their life path could take them, this book offers humor, solace, and solid advice.

It Starts With a Fish tracks the progress of a woman discovering her voice, from the point-of-view of a lawyer, housewife, and an insecure mom, who knows she has ideas to share with the world. Written with incisive wit and often self-deprecating humor, this is a carefully selected anthology of stories from Feeding the Famished, the blog that created a platform for Kemme, who today is an award-winning novelist and freelance writer.

It Starts with a Fish was a refreshing change from the kind of books I usually read. It’s a collection of blog posts. The stories are not selected at random and have a continuity in them. As the title suggests, the book starts with the author’s real-life instance – of her daughter’s pet fish. The fish grew accustomed to its hooman owners. But then, things changed. The daughter brought home a pet cat. A week later, the fish died of grief and loneliness.

The other series of stories that caught my attention were those of ’empty nest’ and moving houses. The author and her family have moved to a lot of homes so far and their eleventh home had to have a complete renovation – so they decided to stay in a fifth wheel. A trailer parked in their driveway. Cramped up space with her husband and two dogs, things were going pretty interesting… until the trailer was stuck by a lightning.

Then there are stories of traveling, kids moving out of home, son’s trip to Sweden and his wish to study medicine in a Swedish Uni, daughter’s college times, bicycle marathons and much more.

There are many such stories – or, should I say instances? taken from the author’s life. There are no takeaways, no life lessons to be learned – this is meant to be a light reading. A sneak peak into Emily Kemme’s life. If you like reading every day stories, you might want to give this book a try.

I received an ARC in exchange for an honest and unbiased opinion.