An elegant, honest collection of anecdotes about growing up…Rich sensory details and deadpan humor complement Peppe's head-on dive into her childhood dreams and realities…Peppe captures the wonderment and confusion of childhood, weaving an image of Maine that is dark, magical, and unquestionably memorable.”
DailyCandy Boston, 3/4/14
“Pigs Can't Swim pulled us in. Not that Helen Peppe's memoir didn't already have us in its grip, with its pity-free mix of pathos, humor, and four-legged obsession…the author's greatest trick is threading the needle of pain and laughter as she relays difficult tales…wrenching, funny, and uplifting memoir.”
Times Record, 3/30/14
“Alternately funny, poignant, and painful, Pigs Can't Swim is a snapshot of life in Maine, the way no one believes it should ever be, and the true story of a young girl's coming of age, despite all odds.”
Kirkus Reviews, 12/15/13
“A writer and photographer's wry but poignant account of her hardscrabble childhood and adolescence in rural New England…Unsentimental in its character portrayals and forthright yet humorous in its depiction of devastated innocence and family dysfunction, Peppe's book is a celebration of difference, resilience and the healing power of love.”
Booklist, 1/1/2014
“[Peppe's] recollections make for vivid, powerful stories”
Portland Press Herald1/26/14
“Much of this book is laugh-out-loud funny, but there are poignant, sad moments as well…Peppe takes the reader on an up-close tour of what life was like in rural parts of Maine a few decades ago.”
Bookreporter, 2/4/14
“In telling her family's story, Peppe manages deadpan humor, an unerring eye for the absurd, and a touching compassion for her utterly overwhelmed parents. While her feisty resilience and candor will inevitably remind readers of Jeanette Wall or Mary Karr, Peppe's wry insight and moments of tenderness with family and animals are entirely her own.”
The HIPPO, 2/20/2014
“The book tells with exquisite and excruciating detail of her life growing up on a rural Maine farm as the youngest of nine siblings.”
Down East Magazine, March 2014
