Friday, March 19, 2021

AS YOU WERE


 As You Were, David Tromblay, Dzanc Books, 2021, 236 pp

This memoir was the February 2021 selection of the Nervous Breakdown Book Club. It is a searing and tough read.

David Tromblay grew up outside Duluth, MN, son of a Native American father and a woman too young to be a mother. David's mother ran away from his father's abuse, ultimately dropping her two kids off at their paternal grandmother's because she could not afford to raise them by herself. 

But grandma was just another link in the chain. Ripped from her tribal home and sent to one of those boarding schools where they practiced a brutal form of conversion therapy designed to turn Native American children into White people, she has no other parenting skills than strict, abusive discipline.

As soon as David is old enough, he enlists in the military and serves successive re-enlistments. It is no more and no less dangerous than his childhood, even in Afghanistan or Iraq. It is all he knows about survival.

When he finally leaves the military, broken in body and mind, he finds his spirit and a way to live through writing. What a writer he is! The memoir is written in second person, a way to distance himself from himself. It works brilliantly.

If you are triggered by violence, especially towards children, I would not fault you at all for skipping As You Were.

I have a few thoughts I would like to mention. For many years I have been reading both history and historical fiction by authors from all over the world and set in places all around the globe. The through line to it all is violence, struggles for power, feuds, genocides, etc. 

Another through line is love, faith in a higher power, the benefits of literacy, education and the arts. All of this is part of being human. 

What I learned from David Tromblay, and not for the first time, is that while our bodies can be weak and vulnerable, our spirits are tough. I never tire of reading just about any kind of story. Trauma can be found anywhere from the home to the streets to the battlefield, even within the natural world. It takes a certain equation of toughness and compassion to get us through.

26 comments:

  1. Not one for me I think!

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  2. Just a quick note to let you know that I picked up a copy of "Migrations" at the library yesterday. I will let you know what I think of it when I have read it.

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  3. This sounds like a well written but very sad memoir. I'm reading a sad memoir myself - slowly - it's very good though just sad.

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  4. I like your analysis of the "through lines" and the lessons drawn from this reading. I think you are spot on.

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    1. Thank you, Dorothy. I appreciate hearing that.

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  5. that's a good question: "do happy people write memoirs" i haven't read that many autobios, but i don't recall reading a merry one, offhand... love the "Nervous Breakdown Book Club" altho i probably shouldn't apply for membership, being old and retired and grossly cynical about almost everything, haha...

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    1. We like you just the way you are, mudpuddle.

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  6. Probably well done, but alas too many read flags for my emotional level

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  7. Hello!! I think this book would be way too much for me, maybe I could try to read it but I get disgusted easily when reading about violent situations. Thanks for the trigger warning. Take care

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  8. There definitely don't seem to be as many memoirs by happy people! I can only think of a few - Rumer Godden's book with her sister Jon, M.M. Kaye's multi-book series that begins with The Sun in the Morning.

    I was a big fan of English boarding school stories as a child (well, I still am) and the first time I did a library search for "boarding school stories" and found many articles about these harsh residential schools for Native American children, I was appalled. It is probably not surprising David's grandmother was unable to provide a loving home but very sad. I am glad he eventually found a way to deal with his pain.

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    1. Those boarding schools for Native American children are a stain on our country's history. It is follow up story as to how such trauma carries through generations.

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  9. Right now, I know for sure I could not handle this one but it does sound like something I'd want to read so I'll keep it on the back burner.

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    1. I understand. Someone close to me is dealing with childhood trauma right now, so it was interesting to me in that respect. Why humans feel like beating other humans is hard to fathom.

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  10. I would have read this one before kids but now, all I can think of is the million things that can go wrong to them and the million bad things that do happen to kids every day. Beautiful book and I would like to read it one day.

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    1. Yes, probably later is a good idea for you. I remember that feeling when my kids were little. I still have it, actually, but I am not sorry I read the book because of how he was able to write it out of his system.

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  11. Gosh this writer got no breaks in life. Wow very harsh. I'm glad if he's found joy at the end of the tunnel through his writing. A memoir written thru the second person, hmm how different.

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    1. Yes, that second person method was unusual. The whole story reminded me how strong some human beings are and how weak others are.

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  12. BOM DIA JESUS... BOM DIA MÃE MARIA SANTÍSSIMA... BOM DIA ESPÍRITO SANTO... BOM DIA A TODOS NÓS!!! TENHAMOS UM OLHAR DE MISERICÓRDIA.🙏🌹♥️🇧🇷🕊️🕯️📿🏠🙏

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  13. Not many books written in second person! Sounds like an interesting memoir, but the violence and brutality sound like too much for me.

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