This book only has an average rating of 3.75/5.00 on Goodreads.com and when I saw that I had to ask myself, what is wrong with people? Townie by Andre Dubus III is a masterpiece. It is a memoir about family, sibling ties, broken households, a troubled philandering father who works as a college professor and dates some of his students, a troubled narrator who tries to find himself first through fighting and later through writing, where he follows in his father's footsteps, and ultimately the luminous bond between a father and a son who shared the same name and the same passion for words The writing sparkled and made the scenes come to life thanks to a great sense of details and use of sensations. I could really feel I was in the author's head. The main character's growth was also impressive: from "wimp" to street kid itching for a fight to short-story writer with a writer and four children, accompanied in his growth by his brother and two sisters. By the end (and long before the end, in fact), I agreed with Andre Dubus II's assessment of his son: You're a writer, man. I bought this book because Andre Dubus III participated in the Virtual LitFest 2020 seminar in Denver this June in conversation with Peter Orner and I liked enough what they had to say to buy some of their books. A very worthy purchase. Highly recommended for those of you looking for memoirs about families.
