Half a Life by Darin Strauss - B+

Congratulations to me!

It took a 200 page (lots and lots of white space, by the way) non-fiction novel to get me out of my longest reading dry spell in at least two years.

I’ve had dry spells before. We all do. The way that I get out of it is generally by picking up and getting through a “quick read.” (For some reason, I call this a “chaser” book).


Half a Life is one of those “I can’t remember where I saw it” books. Actually, I picked it up initially because I thought that my lovely wife and my No. 1 (age only) daughter would enjoy it. I have recommended that they read it.

The author, Darin Strauss, has written several novels. [Brief aside. Dave Eggers is acknowledged by Strauss as an editor of the book. Small world.] [Brief aside No. 2. Dave Eggers missed the misspelling of “followed” (it’s not “follwed”) during his editing. Just saying. I DO read every word.]

Half a Life is a non-fiction memoir of a living nightmare. The first line of the book is, “Half my life ago, I killed a girl.” Strauss, then an 18-year old high school senior is driving home one afternoon with friends in the car. As he is passing a classmate on a bike, the classmate crosses in front of the car. A collision ensues. The classmate is rushed to the hospital, but she doesn’t make it.

The book then relates some of Strauss’ story. Strauss is now around 40, married, with twin boys. The book is difficult to explain because it’s not exactly a biography or memoir relating Strauss’ life from the age of 18. Instead, writing the book was clearly meant to be therapeutic for Strauss. He talks of his feelings and his grief, and he is hard on himself at times for his very human feelings. The gift of this book is Strauss’ honesty and his ability to both describe and evaluate his own emotions. Any reader with half a heart will identify with how Strauss is dealing with his living nightmare in Half a Life.

Live long, read and prosper. We’ll leave the lights on for you.