Return Stroke

by Dora Dueck

Essays & Memoir

248 pages, Paperback

Published January 1, 2022

Reviews

[maia · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wonderfully honest, insightful, and descriptive collection of essays and memoir. Particularly enjoyed the author’s ability to weave images out of words and to describe the details of the environment in a way that stuck with me after reading - I think especially of the description of the trees in the cemetery as bones, and of the vivid descriptions of weather, wind, and climate in the Chaco.

Again, I’m definitely biased cause this is my grandma, but I would definitely recommend this book!! I enjoyed hearing about the Mennonite history, and how the vignettes and anecdotes of day to day life created such a vivid history and story of their own. Loved hearing more about family members, and meditating on themes of grief, loss, joy, and the idea of home across multiple places.

[Micah Enns-Dyck · Rating 4 out of 5]

wow, whoever proof-read this did such a good job :)

[Gabriele Goldstone · Rating 5 out of 5]

Dora Dueck's writing is known to be deep and thought-provoking. This memoir, with a Mennonite focus, reflects on universal experiences. Thoughtful essays about being a newly-wed in a foreign place, being a parent, a wife, and persisting as a writer. Like her previous works, I hang on every word. A book to be slowly savoured.

[Samuel · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is an engaging memoir by an accomplished fiction author. The bulk of the book deals with her several years living in Paraguay as a young mother.

Since my own background does not intersect with the Mennonite experience in Latin America, I wished that more of the memoir dealt with her Canadian life. I was especially moved by the short "As he lay dying" because of the parallels in my own life.

My own preference would also opt for mess reflection on the writing and meaning of memoirs and more on the stories that Dora Dueck tells so well.

[Melanie Springer Mock · Rating 5 out of 5]

I've read most of Dueck's novels, and she is an accomplished fiction writer. Return Stroke shows that she is a fabulous memoirist, too, and this is now my favorite of her work. I appreciate the opening essays, as well as the longer piece of memoir, "In The House of My Pilgrimage," about the time Dueck and her family worked as missionaries in Paraguay. Her contemplation on memoir, memory, family, home, what it means to be Mennonite, the missionary impulse: these are all woven beautifully together. This book makes me want to continue writing!

[Jacquie · Rating 4 out of 5]

I especially enjoyed the memoir from her time in Paraguay. It makes me want to go there.