Postcards from the Edge

A Postcard Memoir by Lawrence Sutin

My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Lawrence Sutin's memoir reminds me of Lynda Barry's graphic novel "What It Is", in particular her creative writing exercise involving images. Barry teaches that you can create short narratives by taking random images and asking yourself various questions about who's in the picture, where it takes place, and so forth.

Maybe Sutin read Barry's graphic novel and decided to do just that with his vast collection of postcards. Through them he tells the story of his Jewish parents arrival in America, his childhood in the American Midwest, the women he loved, the women who didn't love him back, his university years and finally his writing and family life.

Most passages are as short as the postcards that inspire them, and not all are that interesting. But sometimes Sutin writes beautiful and touching passages, like the one on his grandmother's death in a concentration camp, or the one about his daughter.

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