Title: Moral Compass: A Memoir

Author: Susan Berger

Genre: Autobiography / Memoir

 

Susan Berger wasn’t inclined to have conformity in her life. She bucked trends and was content with taking the road less traveled. Her acumen for analyzing stocks brought her into the male dominated world of finance where she would work for fifty years for John Magee and later Fidelity Investments. Susan lived her formative years in Springfield, Massachusetts with her parents and two older brothers.

The salad days of her youth would be prematurely ended with the tragic death of her mother and her father’s descent into alcoholism. Her teenage years were nomadic, as Susan lived with various friends and family while trying to finish school. Her path was stabilized as she didn’t give into addiction and found a calling in stock analysis.

Author Susan Berger’s account of her life over 70 years is frank and interesting to read. Her ability to reflect on an often-poignant past in how her life’s journey has been shaped is admirable. A linear narrative distinguishes the book as Susan recounts the small and large events that impacted her life in Springfield and later Boston, along with the occasional side trips.

The crux of the book is Susan Berger. However, the family and friends who orbited in and out of her world over the decades factor in significantly. Susan grew up in a male dominated household with her father and two older brothers. Her father doted on her when she was a youngster, but he remained an enigma in some ways. His profession didn’t seem compatible with the family’s comfortable living and his alcoholism was contained until her mother’s death.

Her brothers would come to Susan’s aid when possible as her father’s addiction led to the loss of their house and the dissolution of the family unit. Two of the most notable men who Susan would meet in her adult years were John Magee and her husband John. Like the men in her family, they weren’t perfect, but they were transformative.

Susan Berger is distinct in her candidness and her perseverance. Susan doesn’t refrain from reflecting on the outdated customs and behaviors that dominated life in the 1950’s and 1960’s. She is pointed in her criticism of the prejudices shown by her family along with the poisonous grip of addiction that ruined countless lives of family and friends. The trying circumstances that ran through her maturation into adulthood threatened her future, but Susan possessed an unquestioned resolve in accomplishing what she set out to do.

As a stock analyst in an often-chauvinist environment, Susan wasn’t a shrinking violet in rebuffing overtures from lecherous co-workers or in making her opinions be heard. Her ambition propelled her forward in her long career.

The book is a comprehensive perspective of Susan Berger’s life story up until the present day. Susan provides a wealth of backstory about the ups and downs of financial analysis, but a deeper dive into her success with the business she formed post-retirement would have been a welcome addition.

Moral Compass is an excellent memoir where the author and subject’s relaying of her upward climb in life is refreshing in its honesty. Susan Berger’s journey in life is inspiring and rewarding for the reader.

 

 

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