Summer of Deliverance: A Memoir of Father and Son

Rating:
Summary: The "Scoop" on James Dickey
Review: First off, let's get my wonted disclaimer when reviewing books by or about James Dickey out of the way. I knew Dickey during his final years. I met him once and had several phone conversations with him. He approved of the title of my, as yet, unpublished novel, Seamarks, and was always encouraging me with remarks such as "I'm on yo' side son." So perhaps I'm biased in some way, fashion or form.-Chris Dickey is a journalist, not a biographer or poet. And what is the goal of every journalist? To get the "scoop," to be the first to have the story hit the presses, something that Chris Dickey was exclusively qualified to do with his access to his father in those waning years and his own memories. He has succeeded.-Bravo Chris!-Every journalist has to have this killer instinct, as Chris well knows. Otherwise, he wouldn't be Paris Bureau Chief for Newsweek, but to apply these standards to memoirs concerning his own father's life!?! Contrary to what many folks think, Dickey will be remembered for his early poetry, which was, indeed, great; as opposed to the novel Deliverance which, as literature, was merely mediocre. In this memoir, Chris Dickey places a microscope on all his fathers drunken sprees, adulteries, braggadocios etc. rather than the beauty of his poetry or his courage as an artist, which get short shrift until the very end. For example, Chris recounts his father's recitation of the (autobiographical?) poem "Adultery" at Rice University with his wife and family in the audience. Just before the recitation, Chris compares his father to "...a teenager who's been jerking off..." and, after the poem, "F you, Dad." Make of this what you will. Matters this emotional are never fully resolved (as some reviewers have suggested) just as some wounds never heal. I have to recommend Henry Hart's recently published biography, The World As A Lie (The title was suggested by Dickey himself before he died.), which soars, in so many ways, above what seems at times a rather petty memoir. I also recomend to Chris Dickey (and any other readers who may be interested) Balzac's Illusions Perdues (Lost Illusions) which portrays the pitfalls and corruption inherent in the journalistic trade.-3 stars, because it's about J. Dickey and because we have to give Chris the benefit of the doubt.

Rating:
Summary: The "Scoop" on James Dickey
Review: First off, let's get my wonted disclaimer when reviewing books by or about James Dickey out of the way. I knew Dickey during his final years. I met him once and had several phone conversations with him. He approved of the title of my, as yet, unpublished novel, Seamarks, and was always encouraging me with remarks such as "I'm on yo' side son." So perhaps I'm biased in some way, fashion or form.-Chris Dickey is a journalist, not a biographer or poet. And what is the goal of every journalist? To get the "scoop," to be the first to have the story hit the presses, something that Chris Dickey was exclusively qualified to do with his access to his father in those waning years and his own memories. He has succeeded.-Bravo Chris!-Every journalist has to have this killer instinct, as Chris well knows. Otherwise, he wouldn't be Paris Bureau Chief for Newsweek, but to apply these standards to memoirs concerning his own father's life!?! Contrary to what many folks think, Dickey will be remembered for his early poetry, which was, indeed, great; as opposed to the novel Deliverance which, as literature, was merely mediocre. In this memoir, Chris Dickey places a microscope on all his fathers drunken sprees, adulteries, braggadocios etc. rather than the beauty of his poetry or his courage as an artist, which get short shrift until the very end. For example, Chris recounts his father's recitation of the (autobiographical?) poem "Adultery" at Rice University with his wife and family in the audience. Just before the recitation, Chris compares his father to "...a teenager who's been jerking off..." and, after the poem, "F you, Dad." Make of this what you will. Matters this emotional are never fully resolved (as some reviewers have suggested) just as some wounds never heal. I have to recommend Henry Hart's recently published biography, The World As A Lie (The title was suggested by Dickey himself before he died.), which soars, in so many ways, above what seems at times a rather petty memoir. I also recomend to Chris Dickey (and any other readers who may be interested) Balzac's Illusions Perdues (Lost Illusions) which portrays the pitfalls and corruption inherent in the journalistic trade.-3 stars, because it's about J. Dickey and because we have to give Chris the benefit of the doubt.

Rating:
Summary: Speaks to the Heart of the Universal Father/Son Relationship
Review: I finished the book and have spent a couple of days sorting out my thoughts, a process that will probably take much more time. I circled the book warily on the night stand for about three days, knowing it would be an absorbing experience. I started reading it last Saturday early afternoon, then awoke, restless with my thoughts, at 4:30 a.m. Sunday to finish it. It was heavy, but not sad, because it was about victory, a 90-yard grind-it-out fourth quarter winning drive.

The words and thoughts flowed smoothly, but left large wakes. The author answered the main questions, but left others unanswered for readers in terms of how they relate them to their own lives: exactly the way it should be done. A book like that should not only reveal, it should challenge.

I feel sympathetic to the dad because his burden was greater than most. By that I mean power does corrupt, and to be a lavishly lauded writer is power. All of a sudden here are fame, money and women.

So, dad could be an asshole. It's a very big club, made bigger by those who don't admit it. The thing is--and i think this is most important--there was enough good in him left over to make the author want to reach out, and somewhere he learned or developed the grace to want to make that reach.

I think that not having to die alone is a form of redemption, because it means someone cares enough to be at your side. The good we do as humans can't erase the bad, and neither can it outweigh it on some judgment-day scale. Both are what they are, and life is what it is.

The great value of the book is that it shows how love can wade through hell. It instructs in the art of groping for self.

Rating:
Summary: Duography
Review: I was frustrated by some aspects of this book.

When I started to care about Christopher Dickey and his adolescent fears, he turned to glossing over his coming of age into distant generalities. He gave us just a taste of the distant places where he expunged his fears by immersion in danger.

While he gave us much insight into his father and his rise to prominence, again, he switches to a distant view, and rather uninsightful one, of the personal pain of alcoholism and exploitation by others that brought about his father's near demise.

For a reporter, although he "told the truth" rather than exagerated, bent the truth, or bold face lied like his father, Christopher seemed to relate the truth from too much of a distance. The ultimate semi and belated rescue of James is admirable. But Christopher could relate some of his feelings at being told by his finally sober dad that he loved Christopher. Although Christopher experienced a lot of pain, he seems to want to pick at those scabs, and not rejoice in the good aspects of his relationship with his father.

Another irritation is the way Christopher so often lists off the places he was happy with his father and his family. These are names and situations that carry a lot of meaning for him, but evoke little in everyone else, without some gripping imagery for each place from past parts of the book. Some of these exist, but not for all.

One last reason to read the book is the relation of James Dickey's apparent last lecture on writing poetry...not verse. This section alone is worth the price of the book.

Something tells me Christopher appreciates both the accurate reporting of scenes, and the magic of poetic license. I think that he should turn to fiction for his next book. He could shine by putting accurate detailed images strung in a new order to move the soul. Its time to step out from your father's shadow so far there isn't another shadow at all.

Rating:
Summary: Duography
Review: I was frustrated by some aspects of this book.

When I started to care about Christopher Dickey and his adolescent fears, he turned to glossing over his coming of age into distant generalities. He gave us just a taste of the distant places where he expunged his fears by immersion in danger.

While he gave us much insight into his father and his rise to prominence, again, he switches to a distant view, and rather uninsightful one, of the personal pain of alcoholism and exploitation by others that brought about his father's near demise.

For a reporter, although he "told the truth" rather than exagerated, bent the truth, or bold face lied like his father, Christopher seemed to relate the truth from too much of a distance. The ultimate semi and belated rescue of James is admirable. But Christopher could relate some of his feelings at being told by his finally sober dad that he loved Christopher. Although Christopher experienced a lot of pain, he seems to want to pick at those scabs, and not rejoice in the good aspects of his relationship with his father.

Another irritation is the way Christopher so often lists off the places he was happy with his father and his family. These are names and situations that carry a lot of meaning for him, but evoke little in everyone else, without some gripping imagery for each place from past parts of the book. Some of these exist, but not for all.

One last reason to read the book is the relation of James Dickey's apparent last lecture on writing poetry...not verse. This section alone is worth the price of the book.

Something tells me Christopher appreciates both the accurate reporting of scenes, and the magic of poetic license. I think that he should turn to fiction for his next book. He could shine by putting accurate detailed images strung in a new order to move the soul. Its time to step out from your father's shadow so far there isn't another shadow at all.

Rating:
Summary: RECOLLECTIONS OF A SON
Review: Parents all to often suffer from the dis-ease of not being perfect in their childrens eyes especially when that child becomes an adult. Fathers in particular carry this burden. Christopher Dickey, a journalist, and the son of one of America's greatest poets, James Dickey, offers us his recollections of his father, who was not that perfect.

Summer of Deliverance takes us into the mind of an adult son as he comes to terms with the impact of his father on his life. We see the best and worst of James Dickey as a father through the eyes of his elder son. Christopher's insights move beyond the "tell all" memoirs of other adult children attempting to "kill" the celebrity parent. You see the deep love that these two men had for one another. James Dickey loved his children despite his imperfections. Christopher shares with us his own life as he grows and becomes a father, a wordsmith and a reconciler for the family.

Christopher moves beyond the ugliness in his fathers life and accepts the man for who he is and what he could have become for the family. Celebrate the triumphs of the Dickey family as they move through the the decades of their lives. See both Dickeys, James and Chris butt heads but come to a mutual respect of one another. See how both men grow to appreciate one another.

This is a good book in presenting a son's perception of his father. It is not a detailed biography of James Dickey. Share in the insights of the son whose father's words impacted a generation of poets and writers.

Rating:
Summary: Moving, insightful, compelling.
Review: Perhaps the best memoir I've ever read, not just because the memories are so riveting or the writing so strong (though they are), but because it is a living testament to the importance of understanding other human beings, especially those closest to us, no matter how hurt or betrayed or infuriated we might be by them. It's also very wise about families, in all sorts of ways. It's rare to have, or take, a second chance at understanding your past. You have to be brave to jump in and look. Dickey is brave, and an excellent guide not just to his past but to the decades through which that past unfolded. Having said this, the book is entirely unsentimental (a good thing, I think). While it probably was (in part, anyway) a cathartic exercise for the author, it is never self-indulgent.

Rating:
Summary: cameo role- book-to-film deal
Review: PW gives rave review, I agree,treatment will be scripted, Burt Reynolds will be involved. [e-mail]

Rating:
Summary: Summer of Deliverance - A Poignant Story of Forgiveness
Review: Summer of Deliverance, written by James Dickey's son, Christopher Dickey, is a fascinating mix of biography and autobiography. It tells the story of a man who lived life to its fullest yet drank most of it away, and the son who struggled in his shadow.

James Dickey, while an accomplished and prolific Southern poet, will always be best known for his best selling novel, Deliverance. The novel, and its subsequent film adaptation, is the story of a fateful canoe trip taken by four suburban Atlanta men down a North Georgia river.

Born to a wealthy Atlanta family, Dickey spent his early career criss crossing the country with his wife, Maxine, and their two sons, taking several teaching positions along the way.

Dickey began to garner national recognition with his appointment as the Poetry Consultant to the Library of Congress, an honor second only to the Poet Laureate. He was commissioned to write and recite a poem for Jimmy Carter's presidential inauguration. Disappointed to learn that he would not be reciting it at the actual swearing in, a la Robert Frost at JFK's Inauguration, but rather at a televised gala the night before, he was barely able to recite the poem, after enjoying one too many beers backstage with Paul Newman before the show.

But it was the release of Deliverance that put him on the literary map. Deliverance was based on an earlier Dickey poem titled Springer Mountain. Chris Dickey spends a surprisingly short amount of time discussing the actual writing of the book, yet devotes four chapters to the filming of the movie. While James Dickey only made brief appearances on the set, including a cameo as the sheriff, Chris worked the entire shoot as a stand in. Colorful stories of Burt Reynolds' steady stream of female visitors, local inmates being used as film extras, and the unfriendly locals are well documented.

The success of Deliverance brought instant fame and fortune to Dickey, and to say that it went to his head would be a gross understatement. It fueled an already growing drinking problem, which led to marital infidelity and mental abuse of wife and sons.

Chris describes a father who could build you up to make you feel so special, only to tear you down with one of his drunken episodes. He dragged his wife down until she developed a drinking problem of her own, that she died from in 1976. Two months later, Dickey remarried a woman more than half his age.

Soon after, father and son ceased to communicate, an impasse that lasted 20 years. Chris became a respected journalist, covering the turmoil in Central America for The Washington Post, and is now the Paris Bureau Chief for Newsweek magazine. But his father's failing health drew brought him home to Columbia, South Carolina, to care for his father, and to try and begin a dialogue to help work through their problems.

During their time together, James was completely sober, and they spent a great deal of time talking about their lives. Slowly they began the healing process before James died.

Summer of Deliverance is a compelling study of the dichotomy of a public personal and the private reality. The result is a poignant story of forgiveness and understanding between father and son.

Rating:
Summary: the accolades are all deserved.
Review: This is a wonderful book, painful and redemptive at the same time, plus interesting as hell. If you thought of James Dickey only as the author of Deliverance, we are made aware here of what a remarkable poet he was and how pathetically ill-equipped he was for fame, marriage or fatherhood. It's far more than just another story of wretched excess, though. Christopher Dickey writes extremely well and honestly about his father and his feelings for him, and at the end you kind of like the old man, which sure seemed impossible for much of the book. But how many of us, if we had his brilliance or prestige that he gained from it, would have been any better at resisting all the trappings that come along? I'm still thinking about this book long after I finished and the end, where James Dickey is quoted at length on what it means to be a poet, is spellbinding and inspirational, worth the price of the book and the time it took to get to the end.