Sin, Sushi and Survival – a memoir
by Erla-Mari Diedericks
(Zebra Press, R150)
If Sin, Sushi and Survival were a film, the age restriction would definitely be 18. Even the book should have a little notice somewhere on the bottom corner of the cover to warn sensitive readers: vulgar language, nudity, sex, more sex, violence and suicide by a gun – in no specific order.
This woman’s true-life story will inspire you, or make you feel better about your own life’s mess.
Erla-Mari Diedericks finally finds the guts to leave her husband after years of abuse. But she has to find a place for her son and herself to stay.
Dating again after years of marriage can’t be easy – she tries online dating, ending up with the most interesting and dodgy characters.
As if her life isn’t on the edge already, her best friend – make that her only friend – dies.
So she shoots herself.
A journalist by profession, Diedericks is not new to the written word and it shows in her writing.
She has it all – the flow, pace and structure. She knows when to draw you in and when to relax, vividly showing all the details and when to step back just a little.
Most female readers will relate and even identify with the writer, who, like most of us, is not perfect, but tries to make perfect sense of her own confusion by starting over.
She survived.
Bottom line? Life goes on. And all that matters is what you make of it.
This memoir would make a great film, I think. The pages turn as she “cuts” from scene to scene. Perhaps it’s not such a good thing for a novel, though.
Yet, it is a definite must-read. Adults only.