Tuesday, April 19, 2011

Alexandra Styron here tomorrow night!

Great reviews of Reading My Father from

--USA Today: http://tinyurl.com/3gpl4rz

--Entertainment Weekly: http://tinyurl.com/42o7kaf

--The folks at Algonquin Books of Chapel Hill: http://tinyurl.com/62mdy9t

And then there's this from the bookstore's email:

By any standard, William Styron was one of the major literary voices of the last 50 years. The author of The Confessions of Nat Turner and Sophie's Choice, he also penned an extraordinary book about serious depression as viewed from the inside: Darkness Visible.

Now his youngest child, Alexandra Styron, has written a remarkable memoir about her father: a man who, though a gifted, successful writer, was haunted by the "noonday demon" of depression throughout his life. Although the book is told through the lens of "a childhood in an intellectually glittering, artistically engaged, and emotionally precarious household" (Geraldine Brooks), Reading My Father is not primarily concerned with wallowing in family tragedies. Rather it is a clear-eyed, compassionate look at the toll that Styron's illness took on his own life, on his writing, and on his family. And it is one of the best books about a writer that I have ever read.

Alexandra Styron has clearly inherited her father's skills as a writer and storyteller. And in the final analysis, she has not written a dark book--there are too many wonderful characters and incredible stories here for that. It is a beautifully written, deeply humane look at a great writer and a troubled human being.

The Regulator is honored to host Alexandra Styron's inaugural event for Reading My Father this Wednesday evening (April 20th) at 7:00. We look forward to seeing you there.

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