Of Time and Memory: My Parents' Love Story

Rating:
Summary: SUBTLE BUT SOCKO
Review: Don Snyder tackled a difficult task, trying to recapture his mother, who died when he was an infant. He had a bit of luck, but most of the immense power of this bk comes from the way he circles back around and around to the same facts, the same events, the same questions, unwilling to give up or accept the surface explanations. It turns out to be as intriguing as a detective story, written with the lyricism of a poet. And I loved the surface simplicity, that never assaults you; he knows his power is in the story.

Rating:
Summary: Unconditional love
Review: Don Snyder's mother died giving birth to him and his twin brother David. In Of Time & Memory, Snyder undertakes a literary search for the mother he never know, in the process reconstructing his Mother and Father's love story and bringing his mother back to life, if only in the pages of a book. This is a deeply human work of art, Snyder's finest bokk to date. In a book world fill with contrived and trite stories, Of Time & Memory is refreshing search for truth. In The Cliff Walk, Snyder spared no one, including himself, in his endeavor to come to terms with with the powerful connection between identity and work. Now he tells an even more compelling story. Buy it and read it.

Rating:
Summary: RUN OUT AND READ THIS BOOK
Review: Don Snyder's mother died giving birth to him and his twin brother David. In Of Time & Memory, Snyder undertakes a literary search for the mother he never know, in the process reconstructing his Mother and Father's love story and bringing his mother back to life, if only in the pages of a book. This is a deeply human work of art, Snyder's finest bokk to date. In a book world fill with contrived and trite stories, Of Time & Memory is refreshing search for truth. In The Cliff Walk, Snyder spared no one, including himself, in his endeavor to come to terms with with the powerful connection between identity and work. Now he tells an even more compelling story. Buy it and read it.

Rating:
Summary: Excellent, sad but not sentimental
Review: I approached this book without much expectation and to my surprise found it moving and amazing. I would recommend it to anyone very highly only be aware that it is very sad. The book is organized into the writer's search of information about and people who knew his mother, who died just after his birth, and a recreation of the last year of her life. It is this latter part that makes the book unique. The book is almost a hybrid of fiction and memoir in this sense and yet his mother is more real than most fictional characters. The delicacy with which he creates her world is amazing. This is one of those books that I found myself "living" in as I read it. The only thing that might put people off is a certain (for lack of a better word) mysticism. I'm not big on the memoir genre but I think this is one that will stay in my mind a long time. Thanks for writing it!

Rating:
Summary: Nostalgic and Bittersweet
Review: If you love reading about people trying to figure out the past and where they came from, you should enjoy this. The author is in his 50's when he goes back to try and discover things about the mother he never knew. She died 16 days after giving birth to him and his twin when she was only 19. During this search, he not only learns about his mother, but also gains a new understanding of his father and the man he must have been before tragedy took away his young bride.

Rating:
Summary: Raw and heartbreaking
Review: It is amazing that Snyder had the ability to put this story on paper and go through what was necessary to do so. His writing is extraordinary, and I do not use that word lightly. It has been about 3 years since I read this book and it is easily one of the few that will stick with me forever. It reads like a love story, a mystery, and the memoir that it is. Bravo, Mr. Snyder.

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Summary: Please don't hesitate! Read this book!
Review: 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.

Rating:
Summary: Nostalgic and Bittersweet
Review: This is a beautifully written book. Very moving and also very sad, but gratifying as well. Recently I was discussing this novel with someone. When I related the basic gist of the story, this person said, "Oh, sounds like the same idea as in The Notebook, a novel by Nicholas Sparks." There is a slight similarity, but this is real. The story is real and the writing is real, not just sentimental, contrived fiction. I just listened to the audio book and loved it. I would recommend this to anyone.

Rating:
Summary: The way writing should be taught
Review: 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.

Rating:
Summary: RUN OUT AND READ THIS BOOK
Review: 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.