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Lost In Space: A Father's Journey There And Back Again (2014)

by Ben Tanzer(Favorite Author)

4.29 of 5 Votes: 1

ISBN

0988480468 (ISBN13: 9780988480469)

languge

English

genre

Memoir & Autobiography

publisher

Curbside Splendor Publishing

review 1: Ben Tanzer writes with such humor and heart that I'd follow his voice anywhere. Give this writer a column, and then syndicate that column; that's how well he connects. These essays do not sugarcoat but explore the whole messy bag of parenthood, drawing from his own childhood and relationship to his father for added insight. The pieces here are honest and humble, conflicted and complex, always loving. On top of all that, his spot-on prose clips along with incredible rhythm that makes this book impossible to put down. I know a lot of fathers, mothers - screw that, a helluva lot of people - who would benefit greatly from this book.
review 2: This is a brilliant little book about what it means to be a father, have a father, lose a father, and be person on a planet ... morethat does not always inspire us to be our best selves. The world wants us to hide in the corner, away from the bullets and tumors and little destructions. This book says no to that. It's a book about loving children so much you could choke them. It's a book about neighborhoods, and how your favorite bar is being replaced by a CVS pharmacy. This is a book of everyday living, in the way that a William Carlos Williams poem was about everyday living. Tanzer rushes around Chicago--and the whole fucking world--with the same pop-culture fascination that Frank O'Hara rushed around New York. But this is an adult book, one filled with responsibility, which also means loss of self and self loathing, which also means self love and a deep love of others. Tanzer writes about earaches in toddlers and colicky babies in a way that makes the world tilt a little then right itself in a better way. There's no sleep in this book, just like in the real world. All the worries of parenthood collide here, which is somehow reassuring. This is Kurt Vonnegut, pushing a stroller, still interested in cleavage. Being a father is to be in a perpetual state of failure. Tanzer allows us to understand that the success of parenthood, of personhood, comes from that failure, from being present and engaged enough to fail, so that eventually it all comes back as love. less

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