Bernard Cooper

I wasn't sure at first whether I would stick with this memoir, as the tale of an irascible, shouting, aged father struck a little too close to home ["each of them implied that my father was irascible while at the same time commending in him a certain charm they had a hard time putting their fingers on". But I'm glad I did. Well written and containing humor as well as pathos, there are some remarkable turns of phrase and descriptions, such as this one in which he has driven up to a curb where his father sits, seeming not to recognize him. "With the windows rolled up, the world surged by with barely a sound. He seemed to be sealed inside the sunlight just as surely as I was sealed inside my car. I was afraid to roll down the window, afraid he wouldn't respond to my voice, wouldn't react if I called him Father. Stranded in the gap between silence and speech, I could almost feel my own name loosen and peel away, leaving me raw and anonymous." Highly recommended.
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