Townie: A Memoir by Andre Dubus III
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
I really liked this book. It is a memoir by an author whose books like [b:House of Sand and Fog|7944648|House of Sand and Fog|Andre Dubus III|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1348794554s/7944648.jpg|932849] and [b:The Garden of Last Days|2079538|The Garden of Last Days|Andre Dubus III|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1409436719s/2079538.jpg|2084812] riveted me in the past. He is such a great writer, and his telling of his real-life story is no less consuming.
Andre and his three siblings live in New England and when his parents get divorced, they end up with his mom. The five of them struggle in poverty in different towns like Haverhill and Newburyport while his father becomes a professor at a nearby college, seeing the children once a week and either ignoring or not noticing the conditions under which they are growing up.
As he gets older, he turns to anger, and violence, and also forges an unusual relationship with his father. We know the ending - that ultimately he grows into a highly successful novelist - but the book ends long before that happens. How he gets there and what his formative years are like is the real story. What I liked most about this book was the writing - Dubus was able to describe both time and place as well as emotions with great skill.
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