So Far, So Good

by Ralph Salisbury

Bullet-shattered glass clatters onto his baby bed; he wakes and cries out into darkness. Does he remember this? Or remember being told? Regardless, he feels it, and will feel it again, bomb bay wind buffeting his eighteen-year-old body a mile above an old volcano’s jagged debris, and yet again, staring at photos of Korean orphans, huddled homeless in a blizzard after a bombing in which, at twenty-five, he’d refused an order to join. It is through such prisms of the past that Ralph Salisbury’s life unfolds, a life that, eighty years in the making, is also the life of the twentieth century. Winner of the River Teeth Literary Nonfiction Prize, So Far, So Good is a sometimes strange, sometimes lyrical, and often humorous attempt by an inveterate storyteller to recount “just things as they were.”

The survivor of a lightning strike, car and plane mishaps, explosions, bullets, a heart attack, cancer, and other human afflictions, Salisbury “Why should anyone read this?” The book itself resoundingly answers this question not merely with its sheer eventfulness but also in the prodigious telling. Salisbury takes us from abject poverty in rural Iowa during the Great Depression, with a half Cherokee father and an Irish American mother, through war and peace and protest to the freedom and solace of university life; and it is in the end (so far) so good.

288 pages, Kindle Edition

First published January 1, 2013

Reviews

[Gayle Pace · Rating 4 out of 5]

REVIEW

This is a memoir of Ralph Salisbury. The author was born in 1924 to a half Cherokee-Shawnee father and a tough Irish-American mother in rural Iowa. She was tough but still a lady. This book is a glimpse of American history from Mr. Salisbury's eyes. The reader has a chronological view that includes farm life during the Great Depression, His World War II military involvement, and racial and political differences. At first I found the book a little hard to follow. Mr. Salisbury is a great storyteller. He connects his past to his midlife then to his 80-year old present day. He connects his life experiences that are full of history. Sometimes his narrative relays some disturbing images. He describes in detail his part in castration of farm animals., then he goes to the rumors of World War II castration of prisoners. and other castrations. He was a survivor of a lightening strike, explosions, bullets, car and plane mishaps, cancer and other health issues. Salisbury wonders: "Why should anyone read this?" That question is answered not only with its events but in the remarkable story telling of Mr. Salisbury. He takes us from life in rural Iowa, a life of poverty during the Great Depression, then through war and peace. Then the quieter life of a University....

SO FAR, SO GOOD

Don't miss out on the life of Mr. Ralph J. Salisbury, a poet and professor at University of Oregon. The memoir will take you on a journey into American history..

I would give this book 4 STARS.

I was given a complimentary ARC copy of SO FAR SO GOOD by Ralph J. Salisbury from Night Owl Reviews for this unbiased review.

[Nita · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a fine memoir. My rating is actually 4.5 stars of 5. The book has some of the same elements of Frank McCourt's well-told memoir Angela's Ashes. In both books, the authors describe in humble detail a childhood of poverty so severe that children could die of malnutrition-related illness. In addition to the gut-wrenching poverty of his early years, Salisbury also encountered much violence in his early life. Some of the recollections of violence are disturbing, so much so that I set aside the book several times before rejoining Salisbury in his unflinching account of his life. Ultimately, as a reader I appreciated his bravery and honesty in confronting memories that could be overwhelming to relive in the process of shaping them into memoir.

In some passages, Salisbury also relates incidents that he could have chosen to whitewash or omit from the telling in order to present himself as nobler than he was. Indeed, his honesty in acknowledging the failings of his younger, developing self makes him a sympathetic character to his readers. The bald honesty in the book will impel many readers to keep reading. One can sense the innate purity of the author's mind-path and quest before he states them near the conclusion of the book: "to fulfill my Medicine Path, my destiny, in writing, in teaching--in becoming as good a person as I can be."

[Jean · Rating 4 out of 5]

The story of Ralph Salisbury's life is a memoir alive with poetic touches. It reads like a good novel, as he reaches toward life's goals, sometimes not clearly understood by him, but always compelling. The characters in his Irish American-Native American family from Iowa come to life on the pages. From his boyhood in rural Iowa to service in WWII to his literary career and college professorships, Salisbury's writing lured me in.

The book won the 2012 River Teeth Prize for Literary Nonfiction and was therefore published by University of Nebraska Press. This book struck my fancy because the author is a shirttail relative who grew up in Iowa-- familiar territory to me. I figured I'd learn some things about that part of the family I hadn't known before, and I was not disappointed. I found out a lot! Turns out this family is part Cherokee/Shawnee Indian, and that heritage comes through loud and clear, more so than the Irish. I would rate the book 3 1/2 stars, even if the author weren't a relative. The author is a poet, so the narrative style was punched throughout with poetic flourishes as it hopped and danced around from childhood to WWII experiences, from near-death experiences to family life and his literary history and career as a university educator (most recently at U of Oregon).

[Patty · Rating 3 out of 5]

I have only read half of this book. Not for any fault or flaw or critical reason, simply because I am more in the mood for a novel than a memoir right now. I really like Salisbury's writing style, and will get back to this one.