Customer Comments

An excellent novel about how individual relationships impact civil rights. Well written, memorable characters.

Meh. I just can't through this book. I just didn't find this woman's journey to be that believable. Not satisfying as a vicarious journey or travelogue.

Like Francisco Jiménez's works Breaking Through and The Circuit, this book should be required reading for all Americans. A memoir told honestly and delicately, with amazing pieces of humor and generosity.

I picked up this title because I deeply enjoy Kidder's writing style. Any budding writers wanting to understand "voice," go read all of Kidder's work. When I came across Kidder's memoir I had an "oh good" reaction, ready for TK to set me straight on American life, like he did with Home Town. I am a fast reader, and I consumed My Detachment in an evening, though I knew I should have read it more slowly. It is a saddening tome, as Kidder pulls no punches and writes in a more spare style than usual about his disillusionment. His ability to scrutinize his own personality and the pointless human tendency to insist on trying to find meaning in a meaningless situation floats like smoke on the reader's consciousness. This book is a masterpiece, as Kidder perfectly follows the old saw of "showing not telling" even when he is methodically and systematically pulling the gauze away from his unhealed psychic wounds. This is a meditative memoir to savor, not gobble in a night like I did, because the answers Kidder does provide are not easy ones to digest.