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FBI Girl
From an evocative new voice comes the touching childhood memoir of an Irish Catholic girl struggling to connect with her enigmatic FBI agent father.
Young Maura Conlons dad is a secret agent. And Maura knows what that means: chasing cars, jumping over buildings, handcuffing bad guys, just like on The FBI, her favorite TV show. But no matter how many times Maura asks her father about his work, he never says anything. So Maura decides to become an FBI girl-in-training. Balancing the rigors of Catholic school with reading the latest Nancy Drew mysteries, keeping track of license plates on the neighborhood cars, and jotting down observations in her special FBI girl notebook is a lot of work, but Maura is determined to infiltrate her dads silent world. However, it will take the birth of a Downs syndrome baby and a family tragedy before she has the courage to confront him using real words instead of cryptic code. A heartwarming tale of a father/daughter relationship, FBI Girl is about family bonds, the trials that test them, and the triumphs that make them stronger.
306 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2004
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103 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 26 of 26 reviews
August 14, 2007
This was a memoir. And it was very good. It's about this girl who grows up in California with her family in the '60s and '70s and her dad is an FBI agent. She loves her dad. Her dad though, seems a little weird to me. He rarely talks. I dunno. She would ask him a question and he wouldn't acknowledge her. She was all, "Well, that's my dad. I knew he was talking to me in code." and I'm thinking, "No honey, he's just an asshole."
The girl reminds me of me. She was all into Nancy Drew and baseball and she would spy on people. Of course, for me it was Hardy Boys all the way.
The girl reminds me of me. She was all into Nancy Drew and baseball and she would spy on people. Of course, for me it was Hardy Boys all the way.
May 12, 2018
I seldom give 5 stars. My friend, Maura, wrote her heart and her memories while pulling our emotions along with her in ways that had me smiling, laughing, but also weeping as I felt for the struggle we have to make sense of life within the family in which we find ourselves.
Thank you, Maura
Thank you, Maura
November 17, 2022
Maura Conlon-McIvor’s FBI Girl is a coming of age story, full of sorrow but also full of joy. I appreciated the complexity with which the author conjures up the Irish and Irish Catholic situations, from Sunday Mass to visiting relatives in New York, to the strictness of Catholic school. I’m very familiar with strong, silent Irish fathers, and love that Maura understood the depth of her father’s love, even though he was unable to communicate it most of the time. I really liked the shift from the early younger Maura and her dogged efforts to crack her father’s code, to the smart teenager who sees her parents through the loving but savvy lens of a young adult.
Joey, her Downs Syndrome brother is portrayed sensitively and beautifully. The family’s unconditional love and appreciation of him, is deeply moving, and it really is believable that in some way he saved the family.
This is a deeply felt memoir, so poignant and specific, that we happily walk every step of the journey with the author, eager to know how her life turns out.
Joey, her Downs Syndrome brother is portrayed sensitively and beautifully. The family’s unconditional love and appreciation of him, is deeply moving, and it really is believable that in some way he saved the family.
This is a deeply felt memoir, so poignant and specific, that we happily walk every step of the journey with the author, eager to know how her life turns out.
January 20, 2019
I read this with my daughter and we both enjoyed it a lot. I also liked how much my daughter learned about growing up now verse when the author was a child. It was a fun book to discuss with her while she was reading it.
March 24, 2020
This should be sold as a children’s book.
August 25, 2022
Interesting perspective of a quiet girl with an even quieter father. Moments of excellent writing and a few that didn't quite land with me.
February 11, 2025
from the cover: “Believing that he [her father] communicates in code, Maura is determined to crack it. She uses clues she gleaned from Nancy Drew mysteries, eavesdrops on adult conversations, and spins larger-than-life fantasies in her head…” Re-read 2/2025.
from 2/2025: Didn’t realize this author lives in Portland now, had gotten a PhD in Depth Psychology. I especially appreciated her conveyance of her secret quest to break her father’s FBI “code” with (she imagines) personal directives from J. Edgar Hoover—reminds me of the This American Life story of the girl who thought she had discovered that her friend’s father was The Tooth Fairy. Also liked the pictures accompanying each chapter. And her award, at the end of 8th grade, winning the award for Most Quiet Girl.
from 2/2025: Didn’t realize this author lives in Portland now, had gotten a PhD in Depth Psychology. I especially appreciated her conveyance of her secret quest to break her father’s FBI “code” with (she imagines) personal directives from J. Edgar Hoover—reminds me of the This American Life story of the girl who thought she had discovered that her friend’s father was The Tooth Fairy. Also liked the pictures accompanying each chapter. And her award, at the end of 8th grade, winning the award for Most Quiet Girl.
May 8, 2008
This book was the beginning of my enjoyment of non-fiction reading. It reads like an eloquent novel. It tells the story of a family -- a girl growing up and coming to understand her parents' relationship, her extended family and the joy of having a Downs Syndrome sibling. Maybe I enjoyed this book so much because I am similar in age to the author and I recongnized a lot of the cultural icons she writes about. The detail is vivid and the people interesting and complicated ... and best of all -- real!
April 1, 2008
Charming, warm, witty memoir of growing up in the late 1960s with an uncommunicative father who works for the FBI, a Down Syndrome brother, and a mother holding the family together. That probably sounds like the setup for a memoir, but the whole thing is really carried by Conlon-McIvor's very straightforward but graceful writing and the depth of feeling she consistently conveys: her own for her family members, her mother for herself and her siblings, and even her buttoned up father.
October 5, 2008
Maura's memoir is an easy read and even if you can't relate to the specific challenges she and her family encounter you can't help but relate to some of the underlying issues the family experiences along the way. It's a story about discovering yourself, loving your family through the ups and downs and learning, as you grow, that your parents are just real people too.
October 20, 2008
It was really good!! I had to read this for English for a choice novel and it had to be nonfiction. So I chose this book. It taught me about love, the character learns to love her little brother that has Down Syndrome then most of all she learned how to love her father more. Very good!!!!! My kind of nonfiction!!!
February 10, 2009
I enjoyed this book very much.has Story of Daughter of an FBI agent. The difficulties growing up with a father that barely communicates with his family. A touching tale of their family through a shy girl who loves them, loves her down's syndrome brother, admires her mother's strengths, and adores her father and tries to decode his silence.
August 8, 2011
To me the description on the book made it sound much more exciting than it really was. I was looking for a murder at the beginning of the book and more excitement. But, beyond that, it was a good memoir. The author's writing was very descriptive and I loved hearing about the her life growing up. Just change the book cover to accurately describe the book. Good book! Bad cover description!
May 11, 2010
Apparently I'm in the minority here. To me, this book sounded more interesting than it turned out to be. The writing was beautiful but that was the book's only saving grace (in my humble opinion). The journey we take with the protagonist just didn't feel like much of a journey at all. Not recommended by me, but obviously it's very popular with others.
February 5, 2008
A beautiful, poignant love story...about a family, and a father and daughter's love for one another, which they both find difficult to express, and so they do in code. I cried.
April 12, 2008
Funny, quirky memoir of a girl growing up in the 60s/70s as the daugher of an FBI agent and the sister of a Down's syndrome boy.
May 15, 2008
It's your basic coming of age story with a little J. Edgar Hoover tossed in. Quick, fun read.
May 3, 2020
I just could not get past the first few pages, maybe I'll try again another day.
May 10, 2012
this was a sweet memoir and interesting story
well written
well written
September 28, 2013
Interesting at times, not so at others. Even so , well written.
August 5, 2014
Just OK. Seemed like a nice trip down memory lane
August 13, 2014
Conlon-McIvor's memoir shares stories of growing up as the daughter of a reticent, mysterious FBI agent.
January 22, 2016
Probably 3.5 stars. It was ok, not an amazing book. Really focused on her family's relationship while she was an awkward teenager and how her down syndrome brother affected the family.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
August 18, 2016
The fresh child point of view quickly became annoying.
November 1, 2021
Thought this was going to be cool, but it was just her life story and had nothing to do with her dad’s fbi career. Couldn’t finish it.
Shelved as 'family'
March 27, 2018 A wonderful family memoir, with luminous portraits of middle-class Irish Catholics, a brother with Downs Syndrome, and a silent authoritarian father.
Displaying 1 - 26 of 26 reviews