Eduardo Santiago
Much broader in scope than I had expected, and effectively so. Cooper spends 290 of the 350 pages laying the groundwork before getting to The Incident: growing up gay and Black in 1970s USA; discovering a passion for birding; sharing said passion; and then selected vignettes from his journey through life. These include travels, personal discovery, family dynamics, work life. All of it suffused with inescapable double-whammy systemic oppression. He's mature and insightful, a talented writer, and his technique works: when we finally get to The Incident, the reader is well prepared to understand it in greater context.
A little TMI in some aspects: in addition to birds, Cooper is seriously into comics, and he makes darn sure that the reader learns all about his (admittedly impressive) work at Marvel and elsewhere. As someone not quite as drawn by the genre, I'll admit to skimming a little. And there's my personal gripe about memoirs: how do you write fairly about those in your life, when they don't have an equal platform to explain themselves? Cooper comes off as fairminded, but I always just tense up when writers reveal private facts about private people. And, well, the birds. There's a lot of bird talk, and how wonderful birding is for every aspect of your life, and I'll confess to skimming some of that too. I get the sense that many of those parts were written to appeal to already-birders, not as an invitation. (Now I'm curious: has anyone been converted to birdaholism by reading this book?)
Much broader in scope than I had expected, and effectively so. Cooper spends 290 of the 350 pages laying the groundwork before getting to The Incident: growing up gay and Black in 1970s USA; discovering a passion for birding; sharing said passion; and then selected vignettes from his journey through life. These include travels, personal discovery, family dynamics, work life. All of it suffused with inescapable double-whammy systemic oppression. He's mature and insightful, a talented writer, and his technique works: when we finally get to The Incident, the reader is well prepared to understand it in greater context.
A little TMI in some aspects: in addition to birds, Cooper is seriously into comics, and he makes darn sure that the reader learns all about his (admittedly impressive) work at Marvel and elsewhere. As someone not quite as drawn by the genre, I'll admit to skimming a little. And there's my personal gripe about memoirs: how do you write fairly about those in your life, when they don't have an equal platform to explain themselves? Cooper comes off as fairminded, but I always just tense up when writers reveal private facts about private people. And, well, the birds. There's a lot of bird talk, and how wonderful birding is for every aspect of your life, and I'll confess to skimming some of that too. I get the sense that many of those parts were written to appeal to already-birders, not as an invitation. (Now I'm curious: has anyone been converted to birdaholism by reading this book?)