Free Downloads A Postcard Memoir
Drawing upon his collection of quirky antique postcards, Lawrence Sutin has penned A Postcard Memoir--a series of brief but intense reminiscences of his "ordinary" life. In the process, he creates an unrepentant, wholly unique account about learning to live with a consciousness all his own. Ranging from remembered events to inner states to full-blown fantasies, Sutin is at turns playful and somber, rhapsodic and mundane, funny and full of pathos. Here you'll find tales about science teachers and other horrors of adolescence, life in a comedy troupe, stepfathering--each illustrated with the postcard that triggered Sutin's muse--and presented in a mix so enticingly wayward as to prove that at least some of it really happened.
Paperback: 224 pages
Publisher: Graywolf Press; 1st edition (April 1, 2003)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 1555973043
ISBN-13: 978-1555973049
Product Dimensions: 7 x 0.6 x 8.9 inches
Shipping Weight: 1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
Average Customer Review: 4.9 out of 5 stars See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
Best Sellers Rank: #944,238 in Books (See Top 100 in Books) #64 in Books > Crafts, Hobbies & Home > Antiques & Collectibles > Paper Ephemera & Cards > Postcards #92 in Books > Literature & Fiction > History & Criticism > Genres & Styles > Humor #1363 in Books > Literature & Fiction > United States > Anthologies
I loved this book for a couple reasons. First of all, Lawrence Sutin is a great writer - one of those guys that probably very few have ever heard of outside his home turf, which is primarily the twin cities. But the guy's been around, worked various jobs, got educated and read some of the great thinkers and thinks a few pretty deep thoughts of his own as he ponders things like reincarnation, the Dalai Lama, and the unexplainable mysteries of life. But I probably enjoyed most the short vignettes about his youth and young manhood wherein he speaks of baseball, dogs, friendships and the like. Best of all perhaps are his sometimes mirth-making meditations on fatherhood and step-fathering which he came to at a relatively late stage, in his thirties. For example, on his relationship with his two young stepdaughters he comments, "In matters of parenting, I try to imitate their mother. They've come to listen to me a little. I fart a lot and they think that's funny." Not quite what you'd expect from a guy who, not too many pages before, talked of "reading Evans-Wentz's translation from the Tibetan of the LIFE OF MILAREPA, the ascetic poet, illumined one of the Himalayas." So of course I laughed out loud. Because most guys never quite outgrow laughing at farts, perhaps not even the "illumined one."And of course there are all these odd, cool old picture postcards on nearly every other page of the book, artifacts that acted as catalysts to Sutin's memories. Sutin confesses to being a compulsive collector of these cards.The other reason I absolutely loved this book was for its physical beauty. Yeah, I'm a booklover, and books like this one make me nearly weak in the knees, with it's heavy glossy pages and its French fold cover, all beautifully designed by Jeanne Lee.
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