After Visiting
Friends: A Son’s Story
Michael Hainey
Category: Nonfiction:
Memoir; Death
Synopsis: Hainey
goes in search of the truth of his father’s death thirty years after his
passing.
Date finished: 27
May 2014
Rating: ****
Comments:
Things don’t add up in the story of how newspaperman Bob
Hainey died. When his son Michael was growing up, no one talked about it, but
he’s collected clues. Newspaper stories conflict, and the deeper he goes with
his investigation (he grew up to be a journalist, too), the more doors are shut
in his face. Newspapermen of the 1960s/1970s stick together. They cover up what
needs to be.
But Michael finds the truth. His cousin has pieced it
together (it was his father, Michael’s uncle—also a newspaperman—who created
the cover up), and Michael finds the occasional person who’s willing to talk
about what happened that night. The answer isn’t necessarily a revelation. You
pretty much guess it from the very beginning. At least, I did. But I did enjoy
following the breadcrumbs to the whole truth.
This was a well-written memoir. It was even and well-paced.
It wasn’t sentimental. But my main problem with it was that when Hainey finally
finds what he’s looking for, and finally arrives at closure, he doesn’t discuss
what’s going through his mind. I was left wondering, but how does he feel about
this? Does it change how he thinks about his father? Does the truth hurt as
much as not knowing?
This is the trouble with journalists writing memoir, in my
opinion. They tell a great story, but they are so trained to be objective
they’re unable to engage in an emotional way. In this case, he seemed
emotionally engaged up until the end, but I needed something to pull it all
together.
Would you recommend
this to a friend?
It was worth the read.
You might also enjoy:
When We Were the Kennedys
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