“This elegant nautical memoir tells the story of a young woman’s courageous personal struggle for independence.”

— Kirkus Reviews (starred review) Read the full review here.

My favorite fan letter for my memoir so far is from my brother Woodie, who was 15 years old our year at sea, before his career working as a ship’s engineer. He is one of the heroes of my story.

“How do you write so honestly? For you, a knight in shiny armor with sword and shield, it’s easy. You just go into every dark hole you come across and drag whatever is on there, out. Then everyone takes a good hard look at it in the sun. Then it flies away, turns to dust. Who cares? It’s all out in the open now. Mostly it’s forgotten, at last. And Elizabeth, in her fearless way seeks another foe to drag in the sun. FOR ALL TO SEE.”

I learned that writing the hard stories that weighed on us, often releases them, and he got it.  One of my intentions in writing this book was to honor how remarkable he was and is.
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“…poetic and incisive…Many readers will see aspects of their own family histories in this powerful saga of trauma and healing. An alternately wistful and searing exploration of a troubled legacy.” Read full review here.
—Kirkus Reviews (starred review)

“Garber’s extraordinary debut memoir tells the story of her abusive father, architect Woodie Garber….and steadily charts his and her family’s descent into chaos and madness, as Woodie’s commissions dry up and he ceases to receive the recognition he believes he deserves….Recommended for survivors of abuse and those interested in knowing more about the ways in which great professional success often comes at the sacrifice of one’s own family and private life.”Read full review here.
—Library Journal 

“In this un-put-downable book, Elizabeth, a poet, acupuncturist, and mother, has, like an architect—ecologically using salvage materials—taken the shock and trauma of the family’s disintegration and built from them a powerful narrative you are reluctant to leave.” Read full review here.   —Architectural Record

“The book tells the story of her escape, her fight to regain control of her life and to become a loving mother.  It is a beautifully written, but heartbreaking tale.”
—Pur Sang, June 2018 Magazine of the American Bugatti Club. This edition of the magazine includes a review of Implosion, an excerpt “My Father’s Bugatti 1951,” and an essay on the 1937 T57SC Buggati Elizabeth’s father owned.  For more information about the American Bugatti Club here.

“Like her father, Elizabeth Garber has produced a highly creative piece of art that shows readers what the stresses of major building commissions and of Modernism itself looked like at home, away from the all-male camaraderie and competition of the office.” Read the full review here.
—Patrick Snadon, Emeritus, School of Architecture and Interior Design, University of Cincinnati

“Garber proves that some people who live in glass houses really should throw stones, and … it’s shattering.” Read the full review here.

—Portland Press Herald 

“Implosion” is a flowing, emotional memoir, and Garber’s life experiences are compelling and perceptive. ” Read the full review here.

—Maine Women’s Magazine 

The Glass Tower: an article in the University of Cincinnati Magazine about the implosion of Woodie Garber’s last major building, the dormitory Sander Hall, in 1991. Read article here. 

“How do daughters talk to fathers?  I searched for up-to-date books / memoirs that are smaller, more intimate, more commonplace: the father is not a monster or lifelong adversary. ,,,, Elizabeth Garber’s “Implosion” is the book I most desperately wanted: stylistic, narrative, etc., a wonderfully rounded thing.”

Stefan Mesch reviewed Implosion in Germany in an on-air-conversation for the NPR-like radio station “Deutschlandfunk Kultur” The full review posted on his blog (click for the translation) can be read here.