Townie

This is Andre Dubus III's new memoir, and I have to admit that I bought it primarily so that I could get the dirt on his father.  I love his dad's writing so much, and since he's now deceased, I figured that this would be as close as I could get to his inside story.  What I discovered is that his son is outrageously talented in his own right.  Andre Sr. quickly became beside the point.

As many children of divorce know, there's a good deal of baggage that comes along with the split.  Different kids handle the hurt in different ways.  Andre Jr.'s hurt surfaced as rage.  Instead of bottling it, he seized on every opportunity he could to vent it.

Dubus grew up in a small, blue collar town in Massachusetts.  He lived on the wrong side of the tracks and he and his siblings were raised in a particularly rough part of town.  They were always vigilant, but became victims of countless acts of violence over the years.  Andre's response was to protect himself by building his muscles and learning how to fight.  Once he felt confident enough in his strength and skill, he sought out any opportunity he could to lash out.  His motto was to hit first and hit hard.  He inflicted countless wounds over the years, but the thrill of the fight always seemed to transform into shame.

As a young adult, he learned to redirect his rage by channeling it into his writing.  While his father was largely absent during his formative years, he resurfaced as a kind and supportive mentor once his son chose to follow in his footsteps.

Again, as a child of divorce, I was fascinated by the firsthand account of the suffering incurred by Dubus and his siblings. I felt like I was getting a rare glimpse of what it's like to be a boy who is encouraged to vent his anger in such a violent way.  He's applauded by his friends and family because he can hold his own in any battle.  He's often thanked for unleashing his fury, as long as he's taking it out on the "bad" guys.  It seems like girls often turn their rage inward and become depressed.  I got caught up in the whole notion of being able to diffuse the rage by acting it out.  It seems like that would be a much simpler way to get rid of the hurt.  But in the end, it seems that violence only begets violence.  How inspiring it is that the author was able to take his pain and turn it into a thing of beauty.