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No Heroes by Chris Offutt
Wearing blue jeans meant I was a local. The gray in my hair meant I'd been away. Word of my impending return spread throughout the county. Some stories would have me moving in with my folks because one of them was very sick. Another had me purchasing my old grade school and converting it into an art colony. I was living in a houseboat on Cave Run Lake. I had AIDS and came home to die. My wife left me and I was back to hunt another. One story said it wasn't Chris Offutt but his younger brother who was investing in the new mall. When the truth finally outed, everyone knew I had bought the old Jackson place, which meant I must be doing pretty well for myself because they were asking a pretty penny for it. On top of that, somebody else said I was teaching at the college, but no one believed the college would ever allow that. In his fortieth year, Chris Offutt returns to teach at his alma mater, Morehead State University, the only four-year school in the Kentucky hills. With the humblest of intentions, he expects to give back to his community, hoping to become, quietly, a hero of sorts. Yet present-day reality collides painfully with memory, leaving Offutt in the midst of an adventure he never searching for a home that no longer exists.
During that same year, Offutt records the story of his parents-in-law, Arthur and Irene, Holocaust survivors who emigrated to New York from Poland in 1946. Their moving chronicle of exile and war entwines with Offutt's attempt to find a sense of safety and home. But it is Arthur who sagely states that "home is illusory" and there are "no heroes" in life.
The New Yorker crowned Chris Offutt's 1993 memoir, The Same River Twice, the "memoir of the decade." No Heroes is a sure contender to reclaim that honor, lifting the tale of one man's homecoming to universal significance.
During that same year, Offutt records the story of his parents-in-law, Arthur and Irene, Holocaust survivors who emigrated to New York from Poland in 1946. Their moving chronicle of exile and war entwines with Offutt's attempt to find a sense of safety and home. But it is Arthur who sagely states that "home is illusory" and there are "no heroes" in life.
The New Yorker crowned Chris Offutt's 1993 memoir, The Same River Twice, the "memoir of the decade." No Heroes is a sure contender to reclaim that honor, lifting the tale of one man's homecoming to universal significance.
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First published January 1, 2002
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 42 reviews
March 15, 2016
The hills surrounded me like the dome walls of a snow globe that you shake. Everything in my life was turned over and I was waiting for the flurries to settle. Home, I told myself. I've come home.
There was a time when Chris Offutt could not wait to leave his home town in the Kentucky hills. But now, forty-years old, toting a wife and two sons, he's come back to teach at his alma mater, Morehead State University. This is the tale of Offutt's homecoming, but it is also the story of his in-laws, Arthur and Irene, both Holocaust survivors.
Offutt finds that while quite a bit has changed, attitudes toward education have not. His students have come up through a system that is unwilling to keep up with the times and now his own children may suffer. I realized that nothing had changed since I was in school. I had come home to help my people and wound up hurting my own son.
Keep in mind that this is an area of the country where, as the author has mentioned in his short stories, any attempt to better oneself is viewed with scorn and suspicion. If it was good enough for your daddy and his daddy, it should be good enough for you.
Remember, poetry in the hills is found, not written. It lies in the handles of tools passed down through families, an ax sharpened so many times the blade is the size of a pocketknife.
I particularly enjoyed the relationship and the repartee between Offutt and his father-in-law. Arthur is a reserved and dignified man, and is somewhat reluctant to have his WWII horror stories recorded.
"All books about war are full of lies," he says.
"Why, Arthur?"
"When the victims write about their experience, there is a tendency to make themselves sound better than they were. Remember, Sonny, no heroes."
The intertwining stories are never completely woven together by the author, though both reach satisfying conclusions. One man struggles with his attempts to return home, while the other realizes it is an impossibility.
As Arthur surmises -- Home is a feeling, nothing more. Home is illusory, like love, then it disappears. Once you leave, you become a stranger. Home is where I hang my head.
There was a time when Chris Offutt could not wait to leave his home town in the Kentucky hills. But now, forty-years old, toting a wife and two sons, he's come back to teach at his alma mater, Morehead State University. This is the tale of Offutt's homecoming, but it is also the story of his in-laws, Arthur and Irene, both Holocaust survivors.
Offutt finds that while quite a bit has changed, attitudes toward education have not. His students have come up through a system that is unwilling to keep up with the times and now his own children may suffer. I realized that nothing had changed since I was in school. I had come home to help my people and wound up hurting my own son.
Keep in mind that this is an area of the country where, as the author has mentioned in his short stories, any attempt to better oneself is viewed with scorn and suspicion. If it was good enough for your daddy and his daddy, it should be good enough for you.
Remember, poetry in the hills is found, not written. It lies in the handles of tools passed down through families, an ax sharpened so many times the blade is the size of a pocketknife.
I particularly enjoyed the relationship and the repartee between Offutt and his father-in-law. Arthur is a reserved and dignified man, and is somewhat reluctant to have his WWII horror stories recorded.
"All books about war are full of lies," he says.
"Why, Arthur?"
"When the victims write about their experience, there is a tendency to make themselves sound better than they were. Remember, Sonny, no heroes."
The intertwining stories are never completely woven together by the author, though both reach satisfying conclusions. One man struggles with his attempts to return home, while the other realizes it is an impossibility.
As Arthur surmises -- Home is a feeling, nothing more. Home is illusory, like love, then it disappears. Once you leave, you become a stranger. Home is where I hang my head.
July 29, 2018
I love this man.
This is the second memoir I've read by him. The first "The Same River Twice" captured his years after leaving Kentucky to find himself, interspersed with the months spent waiting for his first child to be born. This one employs the same tactic, his memories of going back to his home in Kentucky to teach at Morehead State University, while at the same time he is recording his Jewish in-laws experiences in concentration camps in Germany during the war. He went back thinking that he could help young people to escape their cycle of backwoods small town mediocrity, and found that, for the most part, the culture was too ingrained. His father-in-law could have told him that.
This book is wonderful in its portrayal of Chris's boyhood friends, their views of life, and the language they use. There is a chapter about having lunch with his father (for the first time ever) that illustrates the tension between them that had me appreciating my own father. But the chapter on his first grade teacher, Ms. Jayne, who taught him to read and write, and who kept up with his career, well, that's worth the price of the book, and more. The honesty with which he writes, his reverence for teaching and education, his love for the people and community of his (now non-existent) hometown, makes this a wonderful read. I enjoyed spending time with them, but, as Chris ultimately decides, I wouldn't want to live there.
I love this man. And his writing.
This is the second memoir I've read by him. The first "The Same River Twice" captured his years after leaving Kentucky to find himself, interspersed with the months spent waiting for his first child to be born. This one employs the same tactic, his memories of going back to his home in Kentucky to teach at Morehead State University, while at the same time he is recording his Jewish in-laws experiences in concentration camps in Germany during the war. He went back thinking that he could help young people to escape their cycle of backwoods small town mediocrity, and found that, for the most part, the culture was too ingrained. His father-in-law could have told him that.
This book is wonderful in its portrayal of Chris's boyhood friends, their views of life, and the language they use. There is a chapter about having lunch with his father (for the first time ever) that illustrates the tension between them that had me appreciating my own father. But the chapter on his first grade teacher, Ms. Jayne, who taught him to read and write, and who kept up with his career, well, that's worth the price of the book, and more. The honesty with which he writes, his reverence for teaching and education, his love for the people and community of his (now non-existent) hometown, makes this a wonderful read. I enjoyed spending time with them, but, as Chris ultimately decides, I wouldn't want to live there.
I love this man. And his writing.
June 14, 2018
I’ve discovered Offutt last month and became an instant fan. His love of Eastern Kentucky landscape and it’s people has gripped my heart. About the time as Offutt returns to Kentucky, he records his in-laws experiences from Holocaust, and ends up blending both experiences of losing home into one book. It’s a vivid as well as contemplative book about a place called home and about family. Drastically different experiences of losing home deepens the narrative. I felt Offutt’s pain, as well as empathy for the people who live the Appalachia.
There is some beautiful writing on the landscape and seasons; and insightful and often fun scenes with old buddies, teachers and neighbors. One of my favorite passages carries the difference in outlook on life between Offutt and his father-in-law, a Holocaust survivor in his eighties: “The key to understanding Arthur is knowing something of myself. I can never be truly happy because I mourn everything in advance – the wilting of flowers before they bloom, children leaving home, the end of each season during its lovely apex… Arthur never thinks something is the best, but that it might be a little better…”
There is some beautiful writing on the landscape and seasons; and insightful and often fun scenes with old buddies, teachers and neighbors. One of my favorite passages carries the difference in outlook on life between Offutt and his father-in-law, a Holocaust survivor in his eighties: “The key to understanding Arthur is knowing something of myself. I can never be truly happy because I mourn everything in advance – the wilting of flowers before they bloom, children leaving home, the end of each season during its lovely apex… Arthur never thinks something is the best, but that it might be a little better…”
September 16, 2007
I don't get the feeling this guy has a real appreciation for his Kentucky heritage. That's a possum he's holding on the cover. I mean, c'mon...
September 28, 2021
Whatever Offutt does, he does it well. But in addition to reading him, I should like to be in the woods around him, for this is where he becomes immersed within the glories of nature. Less man, more molecule. He understands the chest of a bird becomes the frightened walls of his own heart, when the branch cracks oddly.
March 16, 2025
I did not realize that Chris was from my neck of the woods. My son graduated from the same college of Morehead State. That's just wonderful. I know his books have always hit home with me and that's why I have been a fan from the beginning.
May 23, 2017
Brilliant !
October 11, 2010
Offut alternates between an account of the year that he moved back to a poverty- and ignorance-stricken area of Kentucky where he grew up and accounts of surviving the Holocaust by his Jewish in-laws. The two story lines don't always mesh, but he finds a few parallels and similar concerns with survival across time and far-removed places.
Offut's style is very straightforward and blunt. Although I'm more of a lover of complex sentences and rich description, this style worked for this book. Sometimes the scenes are very humorous, even alongside all the sadness and horrible things he recounts. There's a humble tone that the author takes that I really appreciated. He seemed like he was growing up and coming down off his high horse as he wrote the book. Both failing at "coming home" (his children are miserable and getting a terrible education, so he decides to leave again) and listening to what his in-laws went through that they seldom complain about force him to realize how egotistical he's been.
Overall, a good read.
Offut's style is very straightforward and blunt. Although I'm more of a lover of complex sentences and rich description, this style worked for this book. Sometimes the scenes are very humorous, even alongside all the sadness and horrible things he recounts. There's a humble tone that the author takes that I really appreciated. He seemed like he was growing up and coming down off his high horse as he wrote the book. Both failing at "coming home" (his children are miserable and getting a terrible education, so he decides to leave again) and listening to what his in-laws went through that they seldom complain about force him to realize how egotistical he's been.
Overall, a good read.
April 17, 2012
I have a feeling most of the glowing reviews about this book were not written by Kentuckians. I realize that there are stereotypes for a reason, but I felt like Offutt was only solidifying them. It doesn't help that he is pictured on the front with a stuffed possum under his arm. Granted, I am from the Northern part of the state and the Eastern part is very culturally different, but I still don't believe that there could possibly be a college student at MSU that had never had access to a Dictionary. And how is MSU the only 4-year university in Eastern KY? What about Eastern Kentucky University in Richmond? Perhaps MSU serves the hills and EKU the mountains? I don't know.
I enjoyed the parts about his Holocaust surviver in-laws better than his own reflections on life in Morehead. I can relate, however, to wanting to get the hell out of this god-forsaken state and away from its self-oppression, and yet missing it all the same. Those that do manage to get out never come back unless it's in a box.
I enjoyed the parts about his Holocaust surviver in-laws better than his own reflections on life in Morehead. I can relate, however, to wanting to get the hell out of this god-forsaken state and away from its self-oppression, and yet missing it all the same. Those that do manage to get out never come back unless it's in a box.
April 2, 2018
We may not need heroes, but we need this book
Chris Offutt's NO Heroes is a reflection of one's journey back home, and how everyone's viewpoint has changed. The opening few lines of the book sum up this notion perfect.
No matter how you leave the hill-the army, prison, marriage, a job when you move back after
twenty-years, the whole county is carefully watching. They want to see the changes that the
outside world has on you.
Without spoiling the plot of the memoir, Chris tells the story of the time he went back home to the hills of Kentucky, but not the entire books is centered around that. There is a story within that story of him writing a new book about holocaust survivors, which happens to be titled No Heroes. After every section or two about his time home, there is a chapter of a recollection of two holocaust survivors who are currently married, and are the parents of Chris's wife. His father in law is telling him these stories, which are filling his new book. It is a perfect balance between the coming home, and the survivor stories, it is getting two amazing true stories in one book. Both recollections are written in the first person P.O.V with the main character being the person remembering these amazing events from their life, it being a memoir I would have expected nothing else. Being written that way it immersed me into the stories Offutt was telling. The coming home stories about Kentucky tended to be a bit more interesting than the survivor stories, but that was due to the characters he interacted with while at home. Multiple of these great interactions took place at the local video store, Offutt stated it was due to "The video store at the mall has replaced the general store as the place to visit with neighbors. These colorful characters who I assume are real people Offutt met since the book is a memoir, really shine through their dialogue such the conversation Offutt had with a man named Nine-Mile at the video store. It was very easy to visualize Nine-Mile as a person with dialogue such as "Oh, yeah. I'm a bow-hunter. When I see something in a movie that's supposed to be real but ain't, I'm done with it." The fact that these interesting people really exist make it even more fun to read, and to get lost in the words on the page. Each character Offutt comes across is vivid, and memorable. The dialogue of the characters is rich and full of life, and entertaining to read. An instance that stands out is when Offutt meets a guy named Harley the first day he was teaching at college. Offutt knew this guy since they were kids, and the dialogue is better than most found in fiction. Offutt asks Harley if he is working, and his response is simple, "Hello no, I get the crazy check". The entire conversation is perfect, but a line towards the end puts it over the top, "That's my spot. You come up later and we'll burn one. I got beer up there too." Those two lines sum up the character giving you a perfect image of who this person is, and what he's like. All of the dialogue throughout the memoir is that rich, and makes reading it from start to finish enjoyable. The setting doesn't vary at all throughout the journey of Offutt's story. All locations are set around the hills of Kentucky where he grew up, and it works for this book. The entire area where he grew up was an interesting place, places I've never had the opportunity to frequent. There are too many things mentioned about the area to name even half of them, but certain aspects such as, "A the top of the next hill was the county line, where the bootlegger sold beer, wine, and whiskey.", makes an impression. The way Offutt describes the hills of Kentucky, I felt as if I was there on the journey with him experiencing it firsthand. One part that hit me hard was when Offutt asked one of his college students to look up a word in the dictionary, and she said she never seen one besides at school, then he told her to buy one in a bookstore. His student simply said, "I've never been in a bookstore, Chris, not a real one. They don't have one where I'm from.". That response I remembered from that page forward, and truly understood the location in which he grew up.
The theme of the book I took as there are No Heroes in any aspect of life. There were none during the holocaust, but strong people who did was needed to survive. There are none present in the areas we grew up, but individuals doing the best that they can in order to make it, and there doesn't need to be heroes. True people doing what needs to be done to survive.
I enjoyed the memoir from beginning to end. The characters, events, and locations stuck with long after closing it. The authenticity, and grit is one of my favorite things about it. Nothing felt over exaggerated, or fake, it was pure, while keeping to its realism. The memoir is entertaining, and never left me wanting to skip pages. This was the first book I read by Chris Offutt, and I plan to read the others he wrote as well, as this was a great read.
Chris Offutt's NO Heroes is a reflection of one's journey back home, and how everyone's viewpoint has changed. The opening few lines of the book sum up this notion perfect.
No matter how you leave the hill-the army, prison, marriage, a job when you move back after
twenty-years, the whole county is carefully watching. They want to see the changes that the
outside world has on you.
Without spoiling the plot of the memoir, Chris tells the story of the time he went back home to the hills of Kentucky, but not the entire books is centered around that. There is a story within that story of him writing a new book about holocaust survivors, which happens to be titled No Heroes. After every section or two about his time home, there is a chapter of a recollection of two holocaust survivors who are currently married, and are the parents of Chris's wife. His father in law is telling him these stories, which are filling his new book. It is a perfect balance between the coming home, and the survivor stories, it is getting two amazing true stories in one book. Both recollections are written in the first person P.O.V with the main character being the person remembering these amazing events from their life, it being a memoir I would have expected nothing else. Being written that way it immersed me into the stories Offutt was telling. The coming home stories about Kentucky tended to be a bit more interesting than the survivor stories, but that was due to the characters he interacted with while at home. Multiple of these great interactions took place at the local video store, Offutt stated it was due to "The video store at the mall has replaced the general store as the place to visit with neighbors. These colorful characters who I assume are real people Offutt met since the book is a memoir, really shine through their dialogue such the conversation Offutt had with a man named Nine-Mile at the video store. It was very easy to visualize Nine-Mile as a person with dialogue such as "Oh, yeah. I'm a bow-hunter. When I see something in a movie that's supposed to be real but ain't, I'm done with it." The fact that these interesting people really exist make it even more fun to read, and to get lost in the words on the page. Each character Offutt comes across is vivid, and memorable. The dialogue of the characters is rich and full of life, and entertaining to read. An instance that stands out is when Offutt meets a guy named Harley the first day he was teaching at college. Offutt knew this guy since they were kids, and the dialogue is better than most found in fiction. Offutt asks Harley if he is working, and his response is simple, "Hello no, I get the crazy check". The entire conversation is perfect, but a line towards the end puts it over the top, "That's my spot. You come up later and we'll burn one. I got beer up there too." Those two lines sum up the character giving you a perfect image of who this person is, and what he's like. All of the dialogue throughout the memoir is that rich, and makes reading it from start to finish enjoyable. The setting doesn't vary at all throughout the journey of Offutt's story. All locations are set around the hills of Kentucky where he grew up, and it works for this book. The entire area where he grew up was an interesting place, places I've never had the opportunity to frequent. There are too many things mentioned about the area to name even half of them, but certain aspects such as, "A the top of the next hill was the county line, where the bootlegger sold beer, wine, and whiskey.", makes an impression. The way Offutt describes the hills of Kentucky, I felt as if I was there on the journey with him experiencing it firsthand. One part that hit me hard was when Offutt asked one of his college students to look up a word in the dictionary, and she said she never seen one besides at school, then he told her to buy one in a bookstore. His student simply said, "I've never been in a bookstore, Chris, not a real one. They don't have one where I'm from.". That response I remembered from that page forward, and truly understood the location in which he grew up.
The theme of the book I took as there are No Heroes in any aspect of life. There were none during the holocaust, but strong people who did was needed to survive. There are none present in the areas we grew up, but individuals doing the best that they can in order to make it, and there doesn't need to be heroes. True people doing what needs to be done to survive.
I enjoyed the memoir from beginning to end. The characters, events, and locations stuck with long after closing it. The authenticity, and grit is one of my favorite things about it. Nothing felt over exaggerated, or fake, it was pure, while keeping to its realism. The memoir is entertaining, and never left me wanting to skip pages. This was the first book I read by Chris Offutt, and I plan to read the others he wrote as well, as this was a great read.
March 18, 2025
This is a quick read containing both emotion and humor. I really liked this book for the most part, but I'm not sure the disparate narratives inform each other enough. I get what Offutt was trying to do, but I just don't think a story about a man's existential, complicated relationship with the notion of home--and whether it ever truly leaves you once you depart, or whether you can ever truly return, or what it even is--can be effectively intertwined with a story of Holocaust survival. Again, I understand the intention, but the execution was lacking, in my opinion.
Also, I appreciate Offutt's honest perspective, but at times I felt he was a little harsh in his depiction of Morehead, the city and the university, and Appalachian culture and people, at least when he was speaking in generalities. At the same time, mixed in with those criticisms, it's evident that Offutt has a tremendous amount of love for Kentucky and its people. They are apart of him--are him, even--and I suppose therein lies the complexity, the duality. I am in no way saying that Appalachia needs to be overly romanticized, but the harshness seemed particularly blunt and poignant (which perhaps was the point) and not always fair. Still, Offutt is a wonderful writer, perhaps one of our best at succinctly but affectingly describing natural places such as the woods. He writes about specific Kentucky characters he introduces us to with humor, endearment, and pathos. Whether or not I think everything works, this is still a book worth reading, as is anything Offutt puts out.
Also, I appreciate Offutt's honest perspective, but at times I felt he was a little harsh in his depiction of Morehead, the city and the university, and Appalachian culture and people, at least when he was speaking in generalities. At the same time, mixed in with those criticisms, it's evident that Offutt has a tremendous amount of love for Kentucky and its people. They are apart of him--are him, even--and I suppose therein lies the complexity, the duality. I am in no way saying that Appalachia needs to be overly romanticized, but the harshness seemed particularly blunt and poignant (which perhaps was the point) and not always fair. Still, Offutt is a wonderful writer, perhaps one of our best at succinctly but affectingly describing natural places such as the woods. He writes about specific Kentucky characters he introduces us to with humor, endearment, and pathos. Whether or not I think everything works, this is still a book worth reading, as is anything Offutt puts out.
July 14, 2019
Offutt spoke at the Carnegie Center for Literacy and Learning annual Books in Progress weekend. He was great, so I picked this book up. He is amazing. He totally captures - without romanticism or sentiment - the beauty and challenges of Eastern Kentucky. He's a gifted writer and a terrific storyteller. At first I didn't think the two threads of story - his homecoming to Morehead State and his in-laws telling of surviving the Holocaust - was going to work, but he tied the two narratives together in the end.
May 13, 2018
Nostalgic for his boyhood home in the hills and hollows of Kentucky Appalachia, the author returns to teach at the local university, thinking he can help others growing up in the impoverished area. Intertwined with is story in that of his wife's parents, who survived the Holocaust. But in both cases, you can't go home again. The author finds himself trapped between cultures and soon leaves again.
This is a beautifully written and evocative memoir.
This is a beautifully written and evocative memoir.
September 10, 2020
This was a very different book. I live in Kentucky so the references to the author's hometown were very relevant to me. His writing is also a very literary style, where he can write a paragraph describing a certain kind of flower, but some of his descriptive artistry was quite nice. There is a good amount of humor, some philosophy here and there, and an incredibly intertwined story of the horrors of his in-laws' journeys in Jewish camps during the Holocaust. A quick and emotional read.
June 11, 2017
Offutt returns to his hillbilly roots in the hills of Kentucky with a dream of improving the education in the hills while he is also raising a family and interviewing his in laws about their five year experience in the concentration camps of Nazi occupation. A good example of weaving two unlikely journeys together...beautiful moments of writing and sentence structure.
September 4, 2023
I am not quite sure this worked - I would just get interested in one story when it changed to the other. However overall I enjoyed it. The Holocaust and Appalachia are unlikely bedfellows. Still - the memories of the WW2 ghettos were extremely touching. It did leave me wondering about moving back, anywhere, but Appalachia in particular.
January 20, 2019
Outstanding "it's hard to go home, but you never really leave" memoir. Offutt has excellent command of language and makes ordinary activities read as interesting and filled with meaning. Strongly recommend.
January 16, 2020
Chris Offutt is a good writer and I enjoyed this book, particularly when he shares his memories of Rowan County librarian Frankie Calvert. She was the librarian when my family lived there, two decades ago, and she was absolutely wonderful.
July 13, 2023
I found this memoir very interesting.
It is hard to go home after so many years. Definitely collides with your memory and how things and people change.
Was really heartbreaking about his in laws Holocaust years
It is hard to go home after so many years. Definitely collides with your memory and how things and people change.
Was really heartbreaking about his in laws Holocaust years
February 21, 2021
Very, very sad.
October 18, 2014
I've had Renee's copy of this book for years, probably, and it never seemed like the right time to read it. After having gone home to Florida to help take care of my dad after his heart surgery, it finally seemed right. I go back every year for Christmas, but that's a special time. Florida in August is another kind of special. This book is about Kentucky.
I guess none of that is about this book. Here goes. His writing is clean and spare but vivid. It expresses a range of sensations and emotions and thoughts. He does so much with relatively little. The way he writes about the people he grew up with--you can recognize them instantly as kinds of people you've also known. They are real and complex and interesting. He is compassionate but accurate.
The teaching stuff rings true. It's hard to educate students on how to be educated. I have realized that myself. I don't know that I have dealt with the kind of endemic problems that he faced teaching at Morehead, but I do see the gaps in a student's education that it's not exactly my job to fix but that I can't help but try to fix if I want to get them further.
I love his descriptions of the woods. I miss Florida so much. And I miss the people who understand what it was like to be a kid there, during a specific time.
At first I didn't really understand the point of him including his in-laws' Holocaust memories and stories. And I shared his fear (which he mentions early on) that the book was disjointed and had no center. But it does. His kid figured it out. Upon reasoning out that if his grandparents never made it to New York after the war (if they've never been forced to leave Poland because of World War II), then his mother might have never met his father and so he might never have been born. So he has to love the Holocaust, or at least appreciate it, because he benefited and it arguably forms part of his identity. And that's the connection of everything. Offutt loves his past despite the outer world's rejection of it. He recognizes his own distance from that past now, but he won't turn his back on it. All at the same time, however, there's only an uneasy coexistence of his past, present and future. It's difficult, but not something to avoid. It's not about heroes and hugging and learning and growing and succeeding despite difficulty. It's just how "it" is. It's life, in all of its complexity, ridiculousness, despair, and love. He's got good love. Good for him.
I guess none of that is about this book. Here goes. His writing is clean and spare but vivid. It expresses a range of sensations and emotions and thoughts. He does so much with relatively little. The way he writes about the people he grew up with--you can recognize them instantly as kinds of people you've also known. They are real and complex and interesting. He is compassionate but accurate.
The teaching stuff rings true. It's hard to educate students on how to be educated. I have realized that myself. I don't know that I have dealt with the kind of endemic problems that he faced teaching at Morehead, but I do see the gaps in a student's education that it's not exactly my job to fix but that I can't help but try to fix if I want to get them further.
I love his descriptions of the woods. I miss Florida so much. And I miss the people who understand what it was like to be a kid there, during a specific time.
At first I didn't really understand the point of him including his in-laws' Holocaust memories and stories. And I shared his fear (which he mentions early on) that the book was disjointed and had no center. But it does. His kid figured it out. Upon reasoning out that if his grandparents never made it to New York after the war (if they've never been forced to leave Poland because of World War II), then his mother might have never met his father and so he might never have been born. So he has to love the Holocaust, or at least appreciate it, because he benefited and it arguably forms part of his identity. And that's the connection of everything. Offutt loves his past despite the outer world's rejection of it. He recognizes his own distance from that past now, but he won't turn his back on it. All at the same time, however, there's only an uneasy coexistence of his past, present and future. It's difficult, but not something to avoid. It's not about heroes and hugging and learning and growing and succeeding despite difficulty. It's just how "it" is. It's life, in all of its complexity, ridiculousness, despair, and love. He's got good love. Good for him.
October 11, 2010
Offut alternates between an account of the year that he moved back to a poverty- and ignorance-stricken area of Kentucky where he grew up and accounts of surviving the Holocaust by his Jewish in-laws. The two story lines don't always mesh, but he finds a few parallels and similar concerns with survival across time and far-removed places.
Offut's style is very straightforward and blunt. Although I'm more of a lover of complex sentences and rich description, this style worked for this book. Sometimes the scenes are very humorous, even alongside all the sadness and horrible things he recounts. There's a humble tone that the author takes that I really appreciated. He seemed like he was growing up and coming down off his high horse as he wrote the book. Both failing at "coming home" (his children are miserable and getting a terrible education, so he decides to leave again) and listening to what his in-laws went through that they seldom complain about force him to realize how egotistical he's been.
Overall, a good read.
Offut's style is very straightforward and blunt. Although I'm more of a lover of complex sentences and rich description, this style worked for this book. Sometimes the scenes are very humorous, even alongside all the sadness and horrible things he recounts. There's a humble tone that the author takes that I really appreciated. He seemed like he was growing up and coming down off his high horse as he wrote the book. Both failing at "coming home" (his children are miserable and getting a terrible education, so he decides to leave again) and listening to what his in-laws went through that they seldom complain about force him to realize how egotistical he's been.
Overall, a good read.
July 8, 2008
This book is unique. I enjoyed reading it (which I did when I was a student at Morehead State) because the author is writing about the Morehead area and MSU (which always makes the book a little cooler because you can say "Hey! I know where that is!")
In the book, (which is a sort of memoir), Offutt comes back to to teach at MSU (He is originally from the Morehead area, but had been away for some time.) He also incorporates the story of his father in law, a holocaust survivor.
I remember discussing this book with other students at MSU...many of whom were greatly offended by his portrayal of the area and of MSU students. (If I remember correctly...there is one part of the book where he tells about an MSU student who had never seen a dictionary.)
This is interesting reading...especially if you went to MSU or are from the area.
In the book, (which is a sort of memoir), Offutt comes back to to teach at MSU (He is originally from the Morehead area, but had been away for some time.) He also incorporates the story of his father in law, a holocaust survivor.
I remember discussing this book with other students at MSU...many of whom were greatly offended by his portrayal of the area and of MSU students. (If I remember correctly...there is one part of the book where he tells about an MSU student who had never seen a dictionary.)
This is interesting reading...especially if you went to MSU or are from the area.
September 5, 2009
I chose this author because I saw that one of my favorite authors, Heather Sharfeddin, had this author marked on her read list. I'm glad I read this book. I enjoyed Offutt's memoir about coming home to the Kentucky rural area of his childhood, after living in other areas of the country, getting married, and having children. I also enjoyed the surprising juxtaposition of of his in-laws' memoirs of their time spent in separate concentration camps during World War Two. Being interested in WW2, I had no idea that topic would be part of a memoir about a guy coming home to Kentucky, but it was. I liked the author's honesty about his regions' people and attitudes, and even about his concerns with how he would intersperse his tale with that of his in-laws. He did it well, in my opinion. I'll be reading more of his books.
November 21, 2009
I really enjoyed Offut's narrative voice for the most part. He writes in a pretty simple, honest style that's never simplistic. In some ways, I would have liked a little more reflection on what made it hard for him to achieve his purpose in coming home and teaching at MSU; but in another way, this is just a book about the experience of trying and failing, not really a treatise on the sociology of an economically depressed area and what it would take to make a real change there. The weaving-in of his inlaws' Holocaust experience gives the book more weight than it otherwise would have and works pretty well as both a source of comparison and stark contrast to his own story. A good, accessible read with plenty to think about when you're done.
January 15, 2016
It was handed me by a neighbor who was made aware of my roots. The book is about a child of Appalachia coming home as an adult. His struggle is the back and forth of coming home to the same but different place and the challenges faced when nostalgia clashes with reality. Somehow the memoir also mixes in the stories of his in-laws surviving the Holocaust. The connection being self knowledge coming through the journey, I think. His style tries to just present the picture for you to judge. It is not in any way verbose.
January 28, 2013
The man is preaching to the choir. I read this and still, I moved my daughter back... The jury is out on whether it was the correct decision or not. Time will tell. But if you have ever spent any time in Morehead, Kentucky or ever attended Morehead State University, you will be amazed to realize that you knew many of the people in this book at some point.
December 20, 2013
It's a book that shouldn't work but does.
Interspersed with stories of his in-laws surviving the Holocaust is Offutt's optimistic story of trying to go home again only to discover that home doesn't really fit you anymore and doesn't even exist the way you thought it did. The transitions can sometimes be a little rough but it's all worth the trip.
Interspersed with stories of his in-laws surviving the Holocaust is Offutt's optimistic story of trying to go home again only to discover that home doesn't really fit you anymore and doesn't even exist the way you thought it did. The transitions can sometimes be a little rough but it's all worth the trip.
March 5, 2017
He has an excellent, honest memoir-writing style. This book is the perfect example of "you can't go home again" (sorry, Thomas Wolfe, but it is, and under 300 pages to boot), pairing the deep nostalgia for childhood and familiarity with an adult eye seeing that with familiarity often comes stagnation.
October 3, 2008
Written in an interesting way, meshing the story of his in-laws with his own story of coming home......the ending was kind of a dud.....I know it's a true story, but the ending fizzled out......it was a quick and easy read though.
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