Today's review is a reprise of a review first published a little over 2 years ago on a book that went on to win in the memoir category of our 2013 Readers' Choice Awards
Reviewed by: BigAl
Genre: Memoir/Travel/Short Story
Approximate word count: 5-6,000 words
Availability
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Author:
“David
Antrobus was born in Manchester, England, raised in the English Midlands, and
currently resides near Vancouver, Canada. He writes music reviews, articles,
creative nonfiction, fiction, and poetry. The lessons he learned from working
for two decades with abused and neglected street kids will never leave him.”
For more,
visit Antrobus’ website.
Description:
“This is
what can happen when a personal story of trauma meets the collective horror of
an apocalyptic, true-life event: in this case, 9/11.”
Appraisal:
Until the
day I die, I’ll remember what I did the night of September 10, 2001. I attended
the Minneapolis stop of what was billed as the “Slewfoot Calvacade of Stars,” a
tour of small Midwestern clubs by the top (really almost all) music acts on a
tiny Ozark record label. It was a late night and I intended to sleep in the
next morning. Then my girlfriend’s phone call woke me up. “I think you better
turn on the TV,” was all she said. I turned on the TV to see a plane fly into a
building for the first of several times that day. A few years later I talked to
the late Duane Jarvis and Stevie Newman, frontman for the Domino Kings, both of
whom had played that night. I mentioned the date and they immediately
remembered where they’d been and told me about being awoken the next morning
with the news that the two remaining shows on the tour were cancelled. As soon
as they could, they were on the road, to Nashville and Springfield, their
respective homes. Like the day Kennedy was shot, that day is cemented in the
minds of all of us who lived through it.
David
Antrobus remembers that morning too. He woke up in Vancouver, got in his car,
and headed for New York. It was a road trip to visit friends that, as he heard
and eventually saw what had happened, became much more. Recently diagnosed with
PTSD (post-traumatic stress disorder), Antrobus was to see much of the same
symptoms among the residents of New York. One of the ways of dealing with a
stressful event is to talk about it, which he did to many New Yorkers he met,
and continues doing here, telling us what he saw and felt, and how he reacted.
Dissolute Kinship packs a big emotional punch in a
small number of words. I loved Antrobus’ writing style, which to me felt almost
literary, but it was in the conclusions he drew where I found the biggest
payoff. What do the events of 9/11 say about the world and our place in it? In Dissolute Kinship you’ll find one
Canadian’s opinion and, agree or disagree, realize that the most important
thing is to keep the conversation going.
FYI:
A small
amount of adult language.
Format/Typo Issues:
No
significant issues.
Rating: ***** Five stars
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