The lad He Left Behind: A Man's Search for His wasted Father * By Mark Matousek * Riverhead parts * $23.95
Without the talent of its accomplished writer, this memoir might intimate a graduate-level thesis in sociology. on the contrary Mark Matousek's expressive style and divert of phrase make this a fine example of autobiographical dull Written in the wake of his 1996 Sex Death Enlightenment, this latest memoir is about coming to grips with the absence of his father, the emotional bankruptcy of his mother, and the banal, pathological lives of his sisters. As Matousek approaches his 40th birthday, a friend dares him to hire a private detective to track down his dad, a handsome drifter who drifted away when Matousek was 4 years elderly During the search that tread on the heels ofs Matousek makes profound discoveries about his family and--no surprise to the reader--about himself.