In the Darkroom

Locations
Call Number: 929.9 Faludi, Susan, Adult Book / Nonfiction / Biography / General / Faludi, Susan
On Shelf At: Downtown Library, Malletts Creek Branch, Pittsfield Branch

Location & Checkout Length	Call Number	Checkout Length	Item Status
Downtown 2nd Floor 4-week checkout	929.9 Faludi, Susan	4-week checkout	On Shelf
Downtown 2nd Floor 4-week checkout	929.9 Faludi, Susan	4-week checkout	On Shelf
Malletts Adult Books 4-week checkout	Adult Book / Nonfiction / Biography / General / Faludi, Susan	4-week checkout	On Shelf
Pittsfield Adult Books 4-week checkout	Adult Book / Nonfiction / Biography / General / Faludi, Susan	4-week checkout	On Shelf

"From the Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist and bestselling author of Backlash, comes In the Darkroom, an astonishing confrontation with the enigma of her father and the larger riddle of identity consuming our age. 'In the summer of 2004 I set out to investigate someone I scarcely knew, my father. The project began with a grievance, the grievance of a daughter whose parent had absconded from her life. I was in pursuit of a scofflaw, an artful dodger who had skipped out on so many things -- obligation, affection, culpability, contrition. I was preparing an indictment, amassing discovery for a trial. But somewhere along the line, the prosecutor became a witness.' So begins Susan Faludi's extraordinary inquiry into the meaning of identity in the modern world and in her own haunted family saga. When the feminist writer learned that her 76-year-old father -- long estranged and living in Hungary -- had undergone sex reassignment surgery, that investigation would turn personal and urgent. How was this new parent who claimed to be 'a complete woman now' connected to the silent, explosive, and ultimately violent father she had known, the photographer who'd built his career on the alteration of images? Faludi chases that mystery into the recesses of her suburban childhood and her father's many previous incarnations: American dad, Alpine mountaineer, swashbuckling adventurer in the Amazon outback, Jewish fugitive in Holocaust Budapest. When the author travels to Hungary to reunite with her father, she drops into a labyrinth of dark histories and dangerous politics in a country hell-bent on repressing its past and constructing a fanciful -- and virulent -- nationhood. The search for identity that has transfixed our century was proving as treacherous for nations as for individuals. Faludi's struggle to come to grips with her father's reinvented self takes her across borders -- historical, political, religious, sexual -- to bring her face to face with the question of the age: Is identity something you 'choose,' or is it the very thing you can't escape? "-- Provided by publisher.

REVIEWS & SUMMARIES

Library Journal Review
Publishers Weekly Review
Summary / Annotation
Table of Contents
Fiction Profile
Author Notes

COMMUNITY REVIEWS

Confusing, dysfunctional, and fairly anti-trans submitted by Susan4Pax -prev. sueij- on July 8, 2023, 11:41am Ugh. This book is about 20% about the dysfunctional relationship between Susan Faludi and her father (the whole never-ending beginning of the book; good luck sticking with it); 20% about her father’s personal history, trauma, lack of insight or interpersonal relationship skills, and trans identity and transition; 40% about the history of Hungary from its beginnings through World War II to the early 2010’s and Victor Orban’s early days in power, with a focus on how Hungary treated Jews; 3% about the history of transgender people and their transitions; and 17% about the intersection of those four areas.

The only part of this book that felt worthwhile to me was Hungary’s history. Faludi’s father’s WWII history was fairly interesting, as well. But as for the rest? Dysfunctional people and dysfunctional relationships just don’t interest me. Faludi’s father was abusive when she was a teen, and is obnoxious now. Neither of them have decent boundaries. This has nothing to do with Steffi’s transition. She was an ass before she transitioned, and is an ass now. Does it help to learn a little about why she was an ass? Meh, maybe. But do I want to spend this many pages/ hours with her? Absolutely not.

The author writes the story (apparently) primarily in the timeline that events occurred with her father, so that readers learn about things as Faludi does… but this can be very out of order in her father’s life history. It’s confusing, and unnecessary. Just because her father obscures everything doesn’t mean it has to be that obscure for the reader.

I read/ listened to this in 2022 and the language around LGBTQ+ issues has changed dramatically. That makes it hard to read, though I worked hard to give Faludi the benefit of the doubt that when she wrote this, her language was appropriate and up to date. But it isn’t any more, so no trans-related language should be taken as automatically current (and some is considered quite rude, actually, like referring to people as “male-to-female transition” or “MTF”). Also, the audiobook narrator mispronounced English words just often enough to keep pulling me out of the story, usually by putting emphasis on the wrong syllable. Faludi's constant misgendering of her parent is obnoxious. Her (universal) anti-trans feelings are obvious.

Overall, not a book I can recommend at this point unless you really love dysfunctional family memoirs and want to learn about Hungary’s history all at once. Then it’s could be the book for you.