Of Time and Memory: A Mother's Story

To me, this was a masterpiece--something I didn't expect. I had read his previous book "The Cliff Walk" and found out later that he was doing a reading that summer of "Of Time and Memory" at a local bookstore. At that reading, I told him that The Cliff Walk was incredibly written and that I'd recommendeded it to many people. He then told me that that book was 'practice' for this book, the book he always meant to write. I found that hard to believe, but the comment alone prompted me to let the book sit on a shelf FOR FOUR YEARS. I was waiting for a good time to read it AND afraid of being disappointed, both at the same time. Not only was it better than I thought, it would be SIX STARS versus the previous book's 5! Snyder's ability to write not like he's telling you but almost like you're overhearing him tell someone else puts you right there, right in the conversation, right in the middle of the thought as it grows. I was always taught to write in a linear way, to go from this to this to this. Don Snyder knows how to not just take you there, but to carry you, to help you feel the doubts and insecurities along the way. In today's world where flaws are edited out and smoothed over Snyder shows them all--including his own as they pop up like stray dandelions. (This again sounds less like a story he polished to show others and more like that which he'd tell to only his closest friends.) In the end I struggled, not so much with putting it down as with facing the fact that this book would have to end--the greatest compliment I can think of giving any book. His look at the human condition helped give me a new definition of what good writing is really about.

Wow, wow wow. A delicate, intricate and absolutely absorbing book about the origins of memory and family. Snyder carefully and credibily brings this story to life. A must read for anyone who has ever thought deeply about family and the ties that bind us to them.

I picked up this book from my mother because it looked like a quick read. It is much more than that. This author took an ordinary life like each of ours and shows how special each ordinary and extraordinary action we make effects others, even in the distant future.

The advice above is well taken, believe me. I don't think I've been this affected by a book in quite a while, and as a voracious reader, that's saying a lot. I cannot say exactly what it was that touched me, but the story is a sad and tender one, with beautiful language and description. I bought it on a whim, having never heard of Don J. Snyder; I am so grateful that I did. As you read the story, you are no longer an observer but an actual participant, it puts so close. The only thing that stopped me from reading it through at one sitting was that I had to keep taking breaks to let my emotions settle down and think about it. I was even compelled to do a little research on what the mother, Peggy, died from...please, don't hesitate to read this. Almost everyone will get something from this profoundly beautiful book.

I was fortunate enough to have him as a journalism professor while at Colgate. He's got a brilliant knack at getting underneath the veneer and the superficial which clouds our everyday lives. I highly recommend his latest book.