Tag Archives: Erin Pennington

Taking its title from the poetic closing lines of Norman Maclean’s A River Runs Through It, Some of the Words Are Theirs is a memoir transparent in its effort to honor the organic nature of memory as a growing, shifting thing. It prods steadily at the truth, full of recognition that the truth is slippery, if it indeed exists at all. At its core, this book provides an anatomical display of its author’s efforts to understand the structure of his “alcoholic family,” that is, the roles that all members (mother, brother, author) played in response to a father’s alcoholism. It forwards the notion that through the work of memory construction and reconstruction, dismantling and rebuilding, discovery and change are possible. (“I cannot rethink my father’s story without changing, and I cannot change without rethinking my father’s story” (73)). Within these pages, Jensen commits himself to the difficult work of rethinking in order to provide a new story for himself and for his own two sons Continue reading →