January 21, 2011
“To call a piece of writing ‘visceral and yet elegant’ has become something of a literary cliché, but it’s hard to talk about this memoir without invoking the description. Despite his lyrical, earthy prose, Dubus pulls no punches and dulls no edges as he describes growing up in a drug-laden and brutally violent mill town in the mid-1970s—just a few hours away from his father, a respected author and professor whose friends included Kurt Vonnegut and John Updike.”—Sam, Village Books, Bellingham
Reminiscent of Nick Flynn’s ‘Another Bullshit Night in Suck City’ among others. Dubus III juxtaposes learned violence and innate intelligence in a way that makes both seem a natural part of how we grow to become adults. A fine read.