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cseibs's review against another edition
4.0
Normally I would be irritated with someone presuming so much about the internal lives of real people, but the easy, conversational tone of the memoir made me forgive Ford. I saw this less as a memoir about his parents' lives and more as a vehicle for him to work through his feelings about them. I was moved by how tender and loving he was - perhaps something that can only be achieved from a distance of so many years, since it did sound as though their relationship was contentious at times.
sujuv's review against another edition
4.0
A lovely remembrance of his parents for who they were: simple people who loved each other and loved him. Nothing extraordinary about them other than his father's early demise, leaving his mother missing him for the rest of her life. An example of how engaging and worthwhile our ordinary lives can be.
mawalker1962's review against another edition
4.0
A lovely meditation on the bonds between husband and wife, parent and child, on the ways we know our loved ones and the ways in which we will always be strangers to one another.
caroparr's review against another edition
3.0
Part of the appeal of this memoir is how ordinary his parents were. I had to return it two-thirds of the way through but was not interested enough to go back and finish it.
anitaofplaybooktag's review against another edition
3.0
What this memoir really made me want to do is read something else by Richard Ford. The guy can write. In fact, my overall impression of the entire book is that he could write a gripping tale about a person lying on a couch watching television.
Because his parents, about whom he writes lovingly, are just not that interesting. So he wrote a book about two basically pedestrian lives - that of a travelling salesman and his wife. There's really not a whole lot about Ford himself unless you read between the lines. Each parent gets a section and the beginning of each section has a lot of overlap - - as if he wrote two separate stories and then decided to combine them into one book without further editing. Which I believe is exactly what he did.
Yet, despite the structure, despite the fact that this was a pretty ordinary family, despite the fact the Ford is doing a whole lot more telling than showing (violating the cardinal rule of writing in my opinion), despite all of it - - the book is compulsively readable, and I finished it in a day and a half. Yeah, I'm a little mystified about it myself. There's just something about the rhythm of his writing and his voice that I absolutely loved. For a book that is similar to this one, but much better in every regard except the writing, I suggest [b:A Box of Darkness: The Story of a Marriage|8978483|A Box of Darkness The Story of a Marriage|Sally Ryder Brady|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1312064669s/8978483.jpg|13855545]. Meanwhile, I'm going to look for my copy of [b:Canada|12872236|Canada|Richard Ford|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1327927048s/12872236.jpg|18024855].
Because his parents, about whom he writes lovingly, are just not that interesting. So he wrote a book about two basically pedestrian lives - that of a travelling salesman and his wife. There's really not a whole lot about Ford himself unless you read between the lines. Each parent gets a section and the beginning of each section has a lot of overlap - - as if he wrote two separate stories and then decided to combine them into one book without further editing. Which I believe is exactly what he did.
Yet, despite the structure, despite the fact that this was a pretty ordinary family, despite the fact the Ford is doing a whole lot more telling than showing (violating the cardinal rule of writing in my opinion), despite all of it - - the book is compulsively readable, and I finished it in a day and a half. Yeah, I'm a little mystified about it myself. There's just something about the rhythm of his writing and his voice that I absolutely loved. For a book that is similar to this one, but much better in every regard except the writing, I suggest [b:A Box of Darkness: The Story of a Marriage|8978483|A Box of Darkness The Story of a Marriage|Sally Ryder Brady|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1312064669s/8978483.jpg|13855545]. Meanwhile, I'm going to look for my copy of [b:Canada|12872236|Canada|Richard Ford|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1327927048s/12872236.jpg|18024855].
nickie184's review against another edition
4.0
Loved his novel "Canada". This memoir was so very interesting. I find his style mysterious and revealing at the same time.