Afbeelding auteur

Joe Blair

Auteur van By the Iowa Sea: A Memoir

4 Werken 174 Leden 7 Besprekingen

Werken van Joe Blair

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Algemene kennis

Geboortedatum
1962
Geslacht
male

Leden

Besprekingen

I had high hopes for this book based on the inside cover synopsis. Joe Blair decides at a young age that he will travel for his life. He and his wife elope and ride away from MA on their motorcycle to be - bohemians, basically. They make it to Iowa before they run out of money. 15 years later, they're still there, Joe is repairing AC and they have 4 kids, one of whom is severly autistic, when the Cedar River floods Iowa City. Joe is beginning an affair and is having trouble connecting with his wife.

I expected with this lead up that there would be some real "A-HA" moments where the flooding river is a metaphor for his life, but didn't get that unfortunately. There really seems to me that there was nothing in this book except some self-pitying whining and laments about his life. And the flood itself only takes up a few paragraphs. Plus, he writes a lot of conversations as they happen, which is mostly one person interrupting the other person, or Joe reduced to saying a lot of "umm, well not exactly right now" sort of things, so we as the reader never get the point of the conversation. Sorry Joe - thumbs down from me.
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Gemarkeerd
Jeff.Rosendahl | 6 andere besprekingen | Sep 21, 2021 |
Joe Blair, a pipefitter and air conditioning repairman, takes an unflinching look at his life in this beautifully-written memoir about the joys and challenges of marriage and parenting four children, one of whom is severely autistic, in a small Iowa town. Joe's early dreams of adventure turn sour as his life contracts into supporting his family and coming to terms with a son who will never be able to live alone. His marriage is failing, and his dreams disappear into the reality of supporting a family. A natural disaster turns his town upside down, which gives Joe an unprecedented opportunity to take a good, hard look at what he values. Joe is the best version of everyman in this captivating memoir.

I am not a fan of memoirs because I think they are too often a vehicle for a me-more with self-aggrandizing memories. I was drawn to this book because I went to Grinnell College, which is also in small Iowa town not far from Joe's home. When I learned that he is a graduate of the prestigious Iowa Writer's Workshop, I knew I had to read his memoir. This is a book I will long remember and highly recommend.
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pdebolt | 6 andere besprekingen | Oct 9, 2020 |
I haven't felt so irritated by a book since Gone Girl. Blair kept my interest by making me dislike him so. His life with a severely autistic son is undoubtedly difficult but I loathe his actions when the going got tough.

This memoir is brutally honest and sometimes, just TMI. I wonder if his wife actually read it before publication.
 
Gemarkeerd
jules72653 | 6 andere besprekingen | Aug 23, 2013 |
The author bills this book as an examination of how experiencing the Iowa flooding helped him to re-examine his failing marriage and his priorities. However, while this may be a catchy tag to hang the story on, it is not accurate. Instead this is more properly placed in the genre of middle age, coming to terms with reality auto-biography, with a bit of raising a special needs child auto-biography thrown in.

Blair's story is about how he and his wife met and spent the early part of their marriage traveling across country on a motorcycle from Massachusetts until they get to Iowa and decide to plant themselves there and raise a family. In the present, he finds himself in a large house that needs constant maintenance, working as a air-condition/heating/refrigeration repair guy to support his wife and their children, including a son who is severely autistic and needs a great deal of care. He responds to this by having an affair with a pretty writer he meets. In the end he and his wife work through their problems and take another leap into a more adventurous future.

Although the story was pretty mundane, what made me enjoy this book was the beauty of some of the writing. The manner in which the author writes about the beauty of the country as he sees it from his motorcycle or the chaos and calm he sees struggling in his son's face were really moving and elevated a familiar narrative.
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Gemarkeerd
elmoelle | 6 andere besprekingen | Aug 9, 2013 |

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Statistieken

Werken
4
Leden
174
Populariteit
#123,126
Waardering
½ 3.6
Besprekingen
7
ISBNs
7

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