As everybody knows, you can’t really leave the family roots behind. You can run away, try to escape, but mostly it does not work. The family and its history are just part of your life. And when Nathaniel Grann dedicates his book to his father, mother, stepfather and stepmother, one can imagine that there was a lot going on at home.
When the photographer, already grown-up, spent another three years in his mother’s house, he confronted himself with the strange furniture and furnishings, the sometimes peculiar preferences of the mothers and fathers, the Christmas visitors — the beautiful and the painful memories.
Nathaniel Grann’s book is a confession. In spite of all the alienation, he understood: This is where I come from, these are my people. They dress differently than me, they may live and think differently than I will once, but there they are and I want to deal with it. And he does – critically, directly and ironically, but also affectionately, mildly and humorously.
… love the one you’re with.
