Oblivion
by Hector Abad
Old Book of the Week , July 9, 2018
Phinney Oblivion: A Memoir
This is, as the title implies, a very sad book. So sad, in fact, that I thought twice about sending it out to our Phinney by Post subscribers. But the sadness is inseparable from the happiness that fills many of its pages: the child's paradise of Abad's relationship with his father, growing up in Colombia, and the father's own joyful, courageous, idiosyncratic life, both within his family and as a professor, physician, and public-health activist, the work that ultimately led to his murder by right-wing assassins. As a whole, the book is a reminder of one of most bittersweet truths of life, that love carries with it not just the possibility but the promise of loss.
This is, as the title implies, a very sad book. So sad, in fact, that I thought twice about sending it out to our Phinney by Post subscribers. But the sadness is inseparable from the happiness that fills many of its pages: the child's paradise of Abad's relationship with his father, growing up in Colombia, and the father's own joyful, courageous, idiosyncratic life, both within his family and as a professor, physician, and public-health activist, the work that ultimately led to his murder by right-wing assassins. As a whole, the book is a reminder of one of most bittersweet truths of life, that love carries with it not just the possibility but the promise of loss.
— Tom
Oblivion was reviewed in Newsletter #192 on July 9, 2018. For more like this, and other bookish news, sign up for the newsletter .
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