Father and Son

Starred review from July 17, 2023
This exceptional posthumous memoir from National Book Critics Circle Award winner Raban (Bad Land, 1942–2023) runs on two equally rewarding tracks. The first involves Raban’s six-week stay at a rehabilitation facility following his sudden stroke in 2011; the second concerns his father’s WWII correspondences with Raban’s mother while he was at war in Italy and France and she remained in England. In the book’s early sections, Raban delves into his parents’ back-and-forth as he navigates endless days in the hospital, soothed by their fortitude in the face of even greater adversity. Drawing on the work of various historians, he places their letters in the war’s chronological context, and finds himself growing emotionally closer to his father, with whom he barely had a relationship until he was in his 40s. Before long, a second father figure comes into focus: Tony Judt, whose 2006 book Postwar: A History of Europe since 1945 Raban reads “as a self-imposed course on intellectual rehabilitation... and a history of my (and my father’s) lifetime on my own subcontinent,” and whose Memory Chalet (in which Judt discusses his ALS-induced quadriplegia) Raban calls “one of the most engaging memoirs that I have ever read.” Like Judt before him, Raban catalogs “the catastrophic progress of one’s own deterioration” with warmth and intellectual rigor, effortlessly weaving together personal history and literary critique. Tirelessly researched and told with remarkable candor, this often breathtaking memoir is a worthy successor to Raban’s hero’s.

May 31, 2024

National Book Critics Circle Award winner Raban's (Bad Land) candid memoir begins with his hospitalization following a hemorrhagic stroke in 2011. Raban's narrative traces two storylines. The first describes his extended stay in a rehabilitation center as he relearned basic tasks and attempted to regain the life he lost. The second story is an eloquent history of his parents' early married life during World War II. It's drawn from letters and journals kept during the soldiering years of his father, Peter. Raban addresses his father's complicated legacy, reflecting on this man of faith who was also antisemitic, and considering how Peter came to terms with his own last days. Peter died in 1996, whereas the author died at the age of 80 in January 2023, and this book was published posthumously. James Langton narrates, sensitively communicating Raban's reflections as he recovered from his stroke and providing a measured account of his father's wartime correspondence. While the book intertwines the lives of father and son, it does not tie up loose ends. Audiobook listeners will find another kind of closure, however, as Raban--the consummate travel writer--winds down his personal journey with humor and honesty. VERDICT An affecting blend of memoir and history, highly recommended for fans of Paul Hendrickson's Fighting the Night.--Sharon Sherman

Copyright 2024 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.