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There Will Be Time
My dad had to go away for the summer. I'm not sure if it was jail or the hospital this time. He won't talk about it but he will talk about almost anything else. Movies. Books. History. I ask him questions and he's always got an answer. Dad knows something about almost everything, except how to be normal. He's been doing pretty good lately. Staying clean and taking his pills, no voices in the hallway or sirens outside - and talking about our family more, telling me stories about when he was a kid. I think I'm helping him. I hope I am.
311 pages, Paperback
Published April 20, 2020
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April 26, 2020
'I am just making life and love up as I go along.'
Being a set of dialogues between a bipolar and ex-drug addict father with his near-estranged son (with whom he is here reconnecting) you could be excused to expect pathos and psycho-babble. Well, thankfully, there's none of that! There Will Be Time is touching and moving without being a tear-jerker, honest without being self-centred, and displays a nice balance between the light-hearted and composed. Through wide-ranging conversations, arranged in a diary-type structure, here's indeed a man and man-to-be using what life throws at them to understand each other better, and strengthen what clearly is, despite the past, a pretty strong bond.
It can be funny. Jim Conley has a wry and witty sense of humour, Monty Python-esque at times, black at others, always clever, which can throw you off-balance yet is always timely. There is a lot of darkness too, though. Both deal with their own monsters under the bed, and the author's past quickly turns out to be like the mysterious 'rosebud' of 'Citizen Kane' - a riddle his son will have to delve into and ponder so as to better get where he stands. Depression, drugs, family... It's a tough read.
Strikingly, sailing from topics to topics it goes from the highly intellectual (eg the philosophy of Heidegger) to the straightforward down-to-earth (eg various references to popular culture, and, even, news topics). Considering its subject matter and approach, it's therefore very easy to think of Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance: An Inquiry Into Values by Robert Pirsig while reading it, and so I did. But, I found this one better. It's way more accessible and human, Jim Conley never self-indulging (unlike Pirsig) into pretentious intellectual babblings! He is never boring, but always engaging. As such, he is more relevant, and, easier to relate to. What talked to me in here is not the mental illness (I'm on the so-called bipolar spectrum too, yet have a different experience of it) nor the drugs and addiction (thanks to my dysfunctional upbringing, I managed to stay clear of that...). What talked to me in here, what really echoed, is him battling to be an involved, engaged father despite the hardships.
When it comes to fatherhood, I was indeed struck by how both manage to turn everything they talk about into relevant life lessons. Personally, and given the philosophical bend of the author, I couldn't but see this as a sort of 'Enchiridion'; a manual serving the sharpening of his son's mind into a powerful dagger, ready to cut through the life he has ahead. This book is, also, a lesson in manhood using the author's past as template:
'Sometimes memories hit you hard.'
True; but without memories there is no future. These memories may wash off into a sea, but let's hope there will be time enough indeed for both men to blossom together as they always should have. A great read.
Being a set of dialogues between a bipolar and ex-drug addict father with his near-estranged son (with whom he is here reconnecting) you could be excused to expect pathos and psycho-babble. Well, thankfully, there's none of that! There Will Be Time is touching and moving without being a tear-jerker, honest without being self-centred, and displays a nice balance between the light-hearted and composed. Through wide-ranging conversations, arranged in a diary-type structure, here's indeed a man and man-to-be using what life throws at them to understand each other better, and strengthen what clearly is, despite the past, a pretty strong bond.
It can be funny. Jim Conley has a wry and witty sense of humour, Monty Python-esque at times, black at others, always clever, which can throw you off-balance yet is always timely. There is a lot of darkness too, though. Both deal with their own monsters under the bed, and the author's past quickly turns out to be like the mysterious 'rosebud' of 'Citizen Kane' - a riddle his son will have to delve into and ponder so as to better get where he stands. Depression, drugs, family... It's a tough read.
Strikingly, sailing from topics to topics it goes from the highly intellectual (eg the philosophy of Heidegger) to the straightforward down-to-earth (eg various references to popular culture, and, even, news topics). Considering its subject matter and approach, it's therefore very easy to think of Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance: An Inquiry Into Values by Robert Pirsig while reading it, and so I did. But, I found this one better. It's way more accessible and human, Jim Conley never self-indulging (unlike Pirsig) into pretentious intellectual babblings! He is never boring, but always engaging. As such, he is more relevant, and, easier to relate to. What talked to me in here is not the mental illness (I'm on the so-called bipolar spectrum too, yet have a different experience of it) nor the drugs and addiction (thanks to my dysfunctional upbringing, I managed to stay clear of that...). What talked to me in here, what really echoed, is him battling to be an involved, engaged father despite the hardships.
When it comes to fatherhood, I was indeed struck by how both manage to turn everything they talk about into relevant life lessons. Personally, and given the philosophical bend of the author, I couldn't but see this as a sort of 'Enchiridion'; a manual serving the sharpening of his son's mind into a powerful dagger, ready to cut through the life he has ahead. This book is, also, a lesson in manhood using the author's past as template:
'Sometimes memories hit you hard.'
True; but without memories there is no future. These memories may wash off into a sea, but let's hope there will be time enough indeed for both men to blossom together as they always should have. A great read.
Displaying 1 of 1 review