Tag Archives: Ona Gritz

Celebrate Disability Pride Month: The Space You Left Behind and Stronger

16 Jul

The Space You Left Behind
by Ona Gritz
Some of our Hoboken residents may remember Ona Gritz, who, back in the early 2000’s, was the YA Librarian here at the Hoboken Public Library and helped me run the library’s first Writers Group. Now Gritz is writing full time; The Space You Left Behind was one of two Young Adult novels she had published in 2024 along with Take a Sad Song. In The Space You Left Behind, Cara a sixteen year old who has cerebral palsy works to overcome her self-consciousness about her disability. She and her crush bond over a mystery podcast and then decide to to look into Cara’s own mystery about who her biological father is. Though the novel is fiction, Gritz is able to use her own experience with having cerebral palsy to give authenticity to Cara’s depiction and her outlook of the world. You can also checkout Gritz’s short autobiographical work, On the Whole which details her experience as a new mother with a physical disability, which I had previously blogged about.

Stronger
We screened Stronger as our Monthly Library Movie for Adults back in April , which is Limb Loss and Limb Difference Awareness Month. The film stars Jake Gyllenhaal as Jeff Bauman who lost both his legs during the Boston Marathon bombing and was instrumental in helping get a description of the bomber so he could be found. At first Bauman struggles to adjust to his loss of limbs but with the support of his girlfriend, family, and friends, he learns to use prosthetics and works through his PTSD. The movie came out in 2017 and despite not having huge success on the big screen, I think it is one that should not be overlooked if you enjoy biographical films about real life perseverance. The film was directed by David Gordon Green and written by John Pollono, based on the memoir by Jeff Bauman and Bret Witter. Gyllenhaal, gives a stunning performance as the lead and Tatiana Maslany, Miranda Richardson, Carlos Sanz, and Clancy Brown also are excellent in the supporting cast. Having lived in Boston for two years, I felt they gave an authentic look at the resilient blue collar community that resides there.

For our July Movie Screening we will be showing Les Miserables in honor of Bastille Day (French Independence Day) at 10:30am on July 11.

Written by:
Aimee Harris
Information and Digital Services Manager

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Memoirs of Loss and Love: Everywhere I Look and Crying in H-Mart

24 Jul

Everywhere I Look
by Ona Gritz
Ona Gritz is a former Young Adult Librarian at Hoboken Public Library and we are always excited when she comes back to visit and debut one of her new works such as her new memoir, Everywhere I Look which she discussed with us in May. All though the memoir is newly available, it is a piece that Gritz had been working on for many years. It details her relationship with her older sister, whose life was sadly ended too soon by a horrible crime. Gritz explores and uncovers a variety of family secrets that allow her to have a fuller picture of her sister and their relationship. This story has a moving bittersweet quality, but also manages Ona’s goal of celebrating the life of her sister, even if it was cut short so briefly. The book is being added to our local author collection. Fans of true crime, memoirs, and those interested in complex family dramas will enjoy this work. You can also check out additional books by Gritz including her other new work, a YA Novel, The Space You Left Behind which was published this June and her memoir On the Whole, about raising a baby boy while dealing with her own disability.

Crying in H-Mart
by Michelle Zauner
Crying in H-Mart is the moving and at times also quite funny memoir about Michelle’s Zauner, the woman behind musical act, Japanese Breakfast, and her relationship to her mom, a Korean immigrant who passed away from cancer (they emigrated with Michelle’s American dad from Korea when Michelle was nine months old). H-Mart is the Korean Grocery Store Chain, that sells all the delicious ingredients Zauner’s mother would use to recreate the food of her homeland. Food and her music are the two of the main ways that Zauner uses to celebrate and grieve for her mom. I enjoyed Crying in H-Mart as an audiobook which was read by Zauner. She mentions that some of her relatives had done narration work and to me she must have inherited some of these talents since she did an excellent job telling her engaging story. Even if you are not familiar with her music, her story still has a lot of heart and universal appeal of the bittersweet love and guilt combo that fuels many mother/daughter relationship. I do recommend though if you enjoyed the story checking out Japanese Breakfast’s debut, Psychopomp which has enjoyable pop rock melodies and songs which bring in some autobiographical elements of this period in Zauner’s life and her loss; it is a picture of her mom on the album cover.

Written by:
Aimee Harris
Information and Digital Services Manager

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