The Imposter's Daughter

There are a few things that I am interested in discussing upon reflection of this graphic memoir. In part, these ruminations of mine are prompted by the interview at the end of the book between Laurie Sandell and Merrill Markoe. In particular, the notion that Laurie’s father’s behavior throughout the memoir is sociopathic and suggests some form of clinical narcissism intrigues me with regard to how the narrator subtly resists diagnosing her father in this way (I say subtly, because weirdly the prospect that one could attribute psychoanalysis to Laurie’s father eluded me until I pulled myself away from the memoir and began to think about it from a critical distance. In part, I think this has to do with the fact that a great deal of the memoir is told from the point of view of a child who blindly idolizes her father, as well as the fact that the message contained within a memoir is inherently biased, in that it is rigged to appeal to both the author and the narrator.)

One could say that The Imposter’s Daughter is almost equally about what Laurie chooses not to confront as it is about how she processes all of the lies that her father has fed her since childhood and the implications with respect to how she lives her adult life. I think the narrator acknowledges this towards the end of the memoir that constitutes a kind of transformation for Laurie: Shades of Hope, therapy, an attempt at self-awareness and acceptance of the truth. I think the idea is that, in the end, Laurie find a way to channel her anger, confusion and frustration concerning her father into writing, which she experiences as therapeutic. Laurie begins to accept that there are certain things that she has no control over. She is no longer a detective seeking answers; rather, she is able to find solace in the fact that she cannot know everything, nor does she want to anymore. She does not feel the need, like her interviewer, to put a label on her father’s sickness. Diagnosing him is not going to help her put all of the lies behind her. Laurie’s ability to heal necessitates a means of being set free from the lies, and no longer of painstakingly trying to understand and pinpoint the reasoning behind her father’s words and actions. Laurie had to learn this the hard way. While she previously judged her sisters and regarded them as being in denial for choosing to overlook their father’s flaws, and remain present in his life, one could say that Laurie now envies them for their ability to do so, but perhaps doesn’t regret the steps she needed to perform in order to arrive at her new outlook. Laurie’s process is so crucial, because without having gone through all of the meddling and investigation that she conducted attempting to uncover the truth, she never would have realized that the truth she seeks is perpetually elusive. She can now find comfort in and is contented by the impossibility of omniscience, and she can relax knowing that she’s done all she can.

Overall, Sandell’s memoir was highly enjoyable to read. I do, however, harbor a lingering difficulty with the way in which Sandell employs the construct of fame in order to illustrate the inner-battle that she experiences herself over the grandiosity and sensationalism that she craves due to her father, and that endows her with the ability to relate to celebrities. Alas, we can touch on that during our in-class discussion.  

Margaret Karr