From Goodreads: A man recalls his life of addiction, abandonment, and anger as he faces death at the age of thirty-four. Told through the voice of one man, but written through the words of his brother – this memoir novelette describes the troubled life who was rejected by one woman at an early age but found solace in another.

Author’s Note:

When I was nine years old I picked up a lead pipe and prepared to hit my fourteen-year-old half brother in case he did something to my mother. That brother died two hours after my twenty-ninth birthday when he was only thirty-four. Throughout the years, I often thought about how he shaped who I eventually became as a person. I was always the good kid, straight A’s, never getting into trouble and very bent on being a productive part of society – the opposite of the older brother I had when most young boys want to try and emulate that older sibling.

But later in life I began to think about what life must have been like for him. I had always thought he was offered the same opportunities I had been given from our parents but he still had a very difficult life that I never could fully comprehend as a child. I decided to try and get inside of my brother’s skin to write this memoir of his life. My brother’s life was a novelette – too long to be considered a short story and too short to be a novel.

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This is a beautiful memoir detailing the life of Johnny, the author’s brother, who struggled throughout his life to find his place in the world and, ultimately, pushed everyone away in the process.  This novelette is very interesting and had me captivated from the very first page as Johnny explains his thoughts from his death bed—unable to speak to those around him, his mind drifts between the past and present, jumping back and forth to allow the reader to view the whole spectrum of his life. 

I really enjoyed the fact that this unconventional memoir is told from the perspective of Johnny, even though Gregory is actually the writer of this memoir.  It is obvious that Gregory spent much time grappling with the question of what life was like for Johnny, a young man scorned by one mother and loved by another, yet still unable to accept this love.  This is a very well written, deep, poignant memoir that I highly recommend to readers of all ages.  Four stars.

I received a copy of this memoir from the author in exchange for an honest review.