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Chargement... Afflictions and Departurespar Madeline Sonik
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Inscrivez-vous à LibraryThing pour découvrir si vous aimerez ce livre Actuellement, il n'y a pas de discussions au sujet de ce livre. When we look back on our lives, or that of others, it is always in the context of other things, both personal ("I remember such and such happened just after graduation night") and societal ("We didn't have to do any school lessons on the day that Canada won that hockey game against Russia in 1972; for the first time we got to watch tv in school, and celebrate that goal together"). We share those communal events; they are markers in our lives. Our own unique life events are juxtaposed with those common markers. It's not just events we mark either. It is also a gradual tide of change that we often don't see clearly at the time, but can easily recognise it in our hindsight. And then when we look back, we can't help but notice for instance, how much a father smoked, completely oblivious to the future consequences. Back then, parents usually hit their kids, often beat their kids even, but that was the norm and it was acceptable (so long as no marks were left), but 40 years later this is no longer tolerated by society. Kids still get beaten of course, but the general pervasive attitude of 'spare the rod, spoil the child' fortunately finally seems to be dissipating. This is not really the same kind of book as those in the recent flood of 'misery memoirs'. It is really a memoir of so many of us growing up in the 60s and 70s, almost an 'Everyman's Memoir'. Those of us of that certain age will find much to identify with. It is a collection of discrete essays on episodes or experiences of her childhood, but it is in the context of other larger events and how they meshed with the lives of her family. I am about the same age, and her childhood was split between Illinois and Ontario, so her communal touchstones were mine too, and for that reason it felt we were sharing some common stories. It is well-written, insightful, and mature, as would be expected since Sonik is an award-winning writer, who now teaches at University of Victoria in British Columbia, Canada. aucune critique | ajouter une critique
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'Afflictions & Departures' is a collection of first-person experiential essays by writer and academic Madeline Sonik. Although Sonik explores some of the salient personal experiences of her young life, the essays in 'Afflictions & Departures' are not traditional memoir. In addition to incidents and feelings recaptured from memory, Sonik seeks out connections between the microcosm of of the daily events of her childhood and the social, historical, and scientific trends of the time. 'Afflicitons & Departures' begins by considering the turbulent and changing nature of the world in the late 1950s and early 1960s-the world in which the author was conceived and born. Like many couples of that era, Madeline Sonik's parents focused on shared social and economic ambitions at the expense of authentic personal feeling. These ambitions would erode and, by the 1970s, completely collapse. In 'Afflictions & Departures ' Sonik exercises both intellectual depth and emotional range. The essays are as incisive as they are deeply moving, and leave the reader with a sense of history as it was lived, not as it is codified in countless textbooks."Startlingly original, Madeline Sonik's moving story of her childhood defies all our expectations of memoir. She captures crystalline moments of childhood memory and links them in a daisy-chain with corresponding events of the tumultuous societal change taking place outside her home. It is North America in the 1960s and 70s and her letter-perfect, child's-eye view of the world brings back that time with such intensity that the reader can almost smell and taste it. Droll, tragic, and absolutely compelling, 'Afflictions and Departures' is a visceral portrayal of a family imploding." -Jury, Charles Taylor Prize for literary non-fiction"Her memory is dustless, capacious, uncanny. With a storyteller's skill and a poet's depth of vision, she recreates her childhood with one eye on her family and the other on the larger world. Significant cultural markers sit side-by-side with the small, painful intensities of her childhood. This memoir is crammed with pathos, yet is written with a light touch. I adore the narrator who never falls into self-pity or narcissism. The clarity of her vision makes the prose gleam and transforms autobiography into art." -Lorna Crozier, author of 'Small Beneath the Sky'"Honesty has to be at the centre of any memoir, and 'Afflictions & Departures' pulsates with raw, straightforward truth. ... Sonikhas overcome enormous challenges and turned them into literary jewels. This book encourages readers to think about family, memory and history - and above all, resilience." - Times ColonistWinner of the City of Victoria Butler Book PrizeFinalist, Charles Taylor Prize for literary non-fictionNominated for the BC National Award for Canadian non-Fiction Aucune description trouvée dans une bibliothèque |
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This is not really the same kind of book as those in the recent flood of 'misery memoirs'. It is really a memoir of so many of us growing up in the 60s and 70s, almost an 'Everyman's Memoir'. Those of us of that certain age will find much to identify with. It is a collection of discrete essays on episodes or experiences of her childhood, but it is in the context of other larger events and how they meshed with the lives of her family. I am about the same age, and her childhood was split between Illinois and Ontario, so her communal touchstones were mine too, and for that reason it felt we were sharing some common stories.
It is well-written, insightful, and mature, as would be expected since Sonik is an award-winning writer, who now teaches at University of Victoria in British Columbia, Canada. ( )