Bound

by James McKean

As a boy, Jim McKean understood little about the lives of the women in his family. Perhaps they preferred it that way. Later, marriage brought another group of women and then a daughter brought questions. The answers revealed stories of remarkable women who survived their time and place, creating a legacy of grit and independence, vulnerability and pain, as they struggled to create lives through the vagaries of war, broken homes, and discrimination. Revisiting these stories has drawn Jim McKean back into the family of women who raised him, stories that bind his and their worlds together.

182 pages, Paperback

Published September 15, 2017

About the author

Librarian Note: There is more than one author in the GoodReads database with this name. See this thread for more information.

James McKean was born and raised in the Seattle-Tacoma area. As an undergraduate, he played basketball for the Washington State University Cougars, starting at center from 1965 to 1968 in what was then the PAC 8 conference. At the University of Iowa, he completed an MFA and a Ph.D. in English. McKean's collection of essays, Home Stand, won a Pushcart Prize for D/Altered. He has published two collections of poetry: Headlong (New Writer Award from Great Lakes Colleges Association) and Tree of Heaven (Iowa Poetry Award). McKean now teaches creative writing and American literature at Mount Mercy College in Cedar Rapids, Iowa.

Reviews

[Michael Brantley · Rating 5 out of 5]

McKean simply never disappoints. He writes about place and team so deftly, the reader is transported there and stays for a comfortable visit. Such a goodread.

[Clifford · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a fine collection of personal essays about family, memory, and rediscovery.