C L S Ferguson

Soup Stories C L S Ferguson

Soup Stories is a coming-of-age memoir set at a salad buffet and bakery restaurant. It is a "reconstructed" memoir; a mixture of memories and fantasies, combined with the truth of perspective and experience. While each short piece stands alone as a complete vignette, the collection also reads as a cohesive narrative. Beginning in 1998, the story follows Ferguson's ten-year journey, from being hired for the first time (outside of babysitting and household chores) to finally completing a PhD in Communication, and being hired as a full-time professor. Ferguson deftly weaves heart and humor into these tales of sex, drugs, heartbreak, failure, and redemption. While the narrative is derived from Ferguson's reconstructed memory, memories of other's reassigned as her own, and some complete fantasies, names (other than her own) and identifying details have been changed to protect those she loved, learned from, and ultimately released.