Perhaps, if it weren’t already taken, a more suitable title for Dubus’ autobiography would have been ”A History of Violence”. The author and protagonist starts to fight as a boy, partly out of a necessity to defend himself and, as the oldest male in a single mother household, his family - because the neighborhoods where Dubus and his siblings grew up and roamed the streets were rough.
Some feelings and experiences are universal. Violence, especially if you are the aggravator and not the victim, is not. Those of you who have been in a fight, and let that first adrenaline rush take the next step know what I am talking about. Luckily, Dubus avoids making Townie all about testosterone and machismo tales of old battles. He recognizes early on that, despite him not being the bully - rather the defendant of bullies, the fighting serves a purpose for him, as an outlet for emotional pain, angst and lack of a proper father figure.
Maybe I am partial because some of my own history is similar to what Dubus describes, and this book might not be for everybody, but as autobiographies goes, this is one of the best I have ever read. If there is a single thing to take with you after finishing this book, it is this: when Dubus channeled the energy he spent in fights into words, he became not just ”a writer”, but one of the best out there. The same is probably true for a lot of aggressive youths of today. Every person has a story to tell.
Some feelings and experiences are universal. Violence, especially if you are the aggravator and not the victim, is not. Those of you who have been in a fight, and let that first adrenaline rush take the next step know what I am talking about. Luckily, Dubus avoids making Townie all about testosterone and machismo tales of old battles. He recognizes early on that, despite him not being the bully - rather the defendant of bullies, the fighting serves a purpose for him, as an outlet for emotional pain, angst and lack of a proper father figure.
Maybe I am partial because some of my own history is similar to what Dubus describes, and this book might not be for everybody, but as autobiographies goes, this is one of the best I have ever read. If there is a single thing to take with you after finishing this book, it is this: when Dubus channeled the energy he spent in fights into words, he became not just ”a writer”, but one of the best out there. The same is probably true for a lot of aggressive youths of today. Every person has a story to tell.
