Half a Life

by

205 pages

Published May 2, 2010 by McSweeney's.

ISBN:
978-1-934781-70-8
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OCLC Number:
436620208

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4 stars (3 reviews)

"Half my life ago, I killed a girl." In this powerful, unforgettable memoir, acclaimed novelist Darin Strauss recounts a tragedy and its aftermath. In his last month of high school, just after turning eighteen, Strauss is behind the wheel of his father's Oldsmobile, driving with friends – having "thoughts of mini-golf, another thought of maybe just going to the beach." Then out of the blue: a collision that results in the death of a bicycling classmate that shadows the rest of his life. In spare and piercing prose, Darin Strauss explores loss and guilt, maturity and accountability, hope and acceptance—and the result is a staggering, uplifting tour de force.

2 editions

reviewed Half a Life by Darin Strauss

Review of 'Half a Life' on 'Storygraph'

5 stars

I generally don't like memoirs, especially not memoirs of the heart-wrenching tragedy Oprah fodder variety, but I literally couldn't put this book down. It reads not so much as a memoir or journal of events, but a collection of occasionally disconnected thoughts and remembrances. It doesn't take the reader through the chronological events of the tragedy as much as it invites us into the author's mind as he tries, for the first time, to document his history and feelings surrounding the event.

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4 stars
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4 stars