I could have gave this another star but I was bored reading some parts of the book. The story about his grandfather's and aunts should have written on the first part of the book because it looks like it was jumbled entirely to the flow of the story. The author also should have included some excerpts from his brother's diaries so the readers could have a glimpse of what his brother really like. ( )

i really like her writing style. i also learned a lot about apples. ( )

Alfred Uhry (Driving Miss Daisy, Last Night of Ballyhoo) has been commissioned to write a play based on this memoir by Marie Brenner. It's scheduled to premier in Atlanta in October. I'm looking forward to it because I think the play is likely to improve it.
There are parts of the memoir that are very beautifully written, especially when Ms. Brenner, a writer for Vanity Fair, conveys the positive aspects of her relationship with her dying brother. Much of it is, however, disjointed and very hard to follow, especially the experiences of their parents and Aunt Anita.
One of the themes in the memoir that Mr. Uhry will likely pick up on (and which he has done so well in the past) is the experience of Jews trying to succeed in the 20th century South. Ms. Brenner is a talented writer, but this memoir needed smoother passages and better linking among events.
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Update on the play: saw it last weekend in Atlanta. Uhry has another hit on his hands. He wisely chose to eliminate much of the background story and pared it down to two characters in a moving, 75-minute, one-act play. Patricia Richardson (yes, the wife of Tim the Toolman in Home Improvement) did a marvelous job as Brenner. We laughed and we cried. I hope they make it into a movie. ( )

Non-fiction is a tricky genre for me. It is unfamiliar territory, yet I want to read more of it in order to understand it better. I also like to learn more about real people and their lives. Perhaps connecting in a way that might help me better understand mine.

Hence why I was drawn to this book.

Not to get too personal, but I too have had issues with my own sibling relationship and wonder if someday, somehow, it can ever be repaired. I cannot say if this book offers me hope in that regard, but it has offered comfort in knowing that what has happened in my life is not unique. Feeling alone in something can be the worst kind of torture. To know you are not alone helps.

One sentiment that struck me most was this: "The stage is set, soon enough we will live on opposite sides of the country. By then, we will have developed dossiers of grievances against each other."

How those words resonate with me.

In the end, I was left with these questions that I still ponder as I have no answer to them: Where is the line drawn that runs between the relationship that should be versus the one that will be? That no matter how we are raised, we end up being the individuals we are fated to be, and many times, that person cannot get along with or understand someone who is born from the same gene pool. Why does this happen? How can it be fixed?

As the author noted: "That we are not close seems a badge of shame, a personal failure, a more of my inabilities . . ."

And it is this I struggle with each as to me, to be so estranged from family is some kind of shame – a failure. But as the author learns, there is no shame or failure in a sibling relationship gone awry.

In answer to an interview question about the competition inherent in sibling relationships, Brenner answers in a way that shows clearly, she and her brother did indeed come to terms regarding this aspect of their rivalry:

That was what the last years were about. We fought and fought, and then something happened. I went to visit him in his world. It was glorious. I’d never imagined how great it was and is. I worked with him in the orchards and learned about the apple. That caused him to relax – somewhat. Anyway, it gave us something new to talk about. I learned something huge: to try to see him as he was. And I realized I loved who he was – however maddening he could be. He might say a version of this, too. We were finally able to be a brother and sister, not two only children in the same family.

As memoirs go, this is one of the better ones I’ve read. I’m still unsure if I will grow to appreciate non-fiction as much as what I usually read, but if there are more on the shelves as good as this one, then it just may happen ( )

For such an accomplished journalist, she seemed oddly needy with a very difficult personality. Her ADD would have driven me as crazy as it did her brother. And this manifested in the structure of the book, which was all over the place, from her Mexican ancestors (who I didn't have the slightest interest in) to apple growing (likewise). The parts about her brother were the most interesting. ( )