Coming Soon: Updated Edition of Ghost of My Father
[Update May, 18 2016: Yes I know, a year has passed. My father died October of last year, more than a year after the book’s release and I wrote a brief note to my mailing list about the news. When it happened I put this update on hold to give me a chance to sort myself and feel things through. Only now do I feel ready to finish the story.]
This week I’m working on an updated edition of The Ghost of My Father. It will have a new epilogue chapter about what’s happened since the book came out, answers to questions I get asked often and some recommendations for people with family issues like mine.
Did you read the book? If yes you can help by leaving a comment about a question you had you wish the book answered.
Meanwhile designer Tim Kordik updated the cover design. It now has lovely reviews from generous souls, a more thoughtful description and more.
Original Cover (read about how it was designed):
Updated Cover:
“a sobering, lucid memoir about the uncanny, precarious nature of family, masculinity, and childhood”
I swear book reviewers have macros for this shit: a {adjective1}, {adjective2} {type of book} about the {adjective3}, {adjective4} {abstraction} of {noun1}, {noun2}, and {noun3}. For your next book, you should totally write “a drunken, incoherent polemic about the shocking, palpable essence of hummus, tahini, and falafel”.
Ok, maybe they do that with macros but I’ve read the book and I find that description rather accurate. Also, some parts of that book have really stayed with me all these months — I am looking forward to reading the updates.
The Ghost of My Falafel? The Myths of Tahini?
I was a reviewer early on. What I am curious about is how your father responded to being portrayed in this fashion, given he read the book? Did he ever apologize or justify himself? Was there ever any sign of improvement in his personality, or his capacity for love, towards the end?
Thanks Lois. I need to think about this one.
Question: Some say that after a person died, you keep discovering something new about him/her, and that makes you feel kind of a new existence of the person. Does that ring true in your father’s case?
Thanks for the question Noah. I’ll think about this more, but so far the closest thing I’ve experienced is the cliche that just because a person dies doesn’t mean the relationship ends. I still think about him now and then, and the context of those thoughts lands differently knowing I’ll never see him again.
Hey Scott,
I’d mostly be interested in a followup on the story. How did the relationship to your father, mother and sister evolve after the book? (did it at all?).
Cheers, Daniel
Has your father’s passing changed the way you see your relationship with him?