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A good memoir has two perspectives. It tells the story of one life with intimate details and precision and, at the same time, it stands back, years away from those details, and tells the story of the same events with different self-knowledge. The reader learns as the memoirist learns, by retelling the story from an adult perspective. In The Tricky Part, Martin Moran takes us on his journey of learning as he transforms his experience of being sexually molested as a young boy. He attempts to pull the strings apart, to salvage the good things that are so entwined with the hurtful things that happened to him. That is the tricky part of life that Moran so beautifully articulates. This is not just another confessional, but a lyrical treatise on the complexities of life.