My Twice-Lived Life: A Memoir
"In my seventies, I have discovered I am not who I thought I was--and never  have been," writes Boston Globe columnist Donald Murray. Murray retired  from  his university teaching job at 62 and had a heart attack a few months  later.  This experience and the years of aging that followed led him to contemplate  his  "lives" by writing this memoir in his '70s. The title refers to the notion  that a writer lives life twice: once in the moment, and again in "the  greater reality of reflection afterwards."Murray shares snippets of memories. As a child, he suffered beatings from  his father (a leather shaving strap), his mother (a bone hairbrush, wet so  it would hurt more), and the school bully (fists). He recounts how he found  solace in books, notebooks, and make-believe siblings.Throughout the book, we get glimpses of his life and the meanings or  lessons  he learned. His experience as an "animal of war"--a paratrooper and  military  policeman in World War II--taught him that "few of us who fought are ever  discharged from our wars."  He refers to the death of his 20-year-old  daughter several times, and finally tells the whole story with as much pain  as if it happened yesterday. He tells fond stories about his wife, Minnie  Mae, only revealing toward the end the day-to-day reality of caring for a  wife with Parkinson's. "We don't grow older in an even march but in sudden  lurches," writes Murray. He doesn't fear his own death, but fears indignity  and dependence.My Twice-Lived Lifedoes more than let us tiptoe into the private  life and thoughts of an excellent writer--it beckons us to examine our own.--Joan Price