Maps to anywhere response

Bernard Cooper invites us into not only his family experience growing up, but also into the creativity of his mind through these short vignettes. Separately I found them to be a bit disorganized and at times I felt confused as to where he was going with some of these stories. Turns out, sometimes he's just telling us a story, just to tell it it seems. While most of this book delt with Coopers childhood and learning to deal with a loss, and death as a houseguest that never leaves; I found myself more caught upon the stories that were more abstract. O dog my favorite scenes in this book is ATLANTIS. When I began the section I found myself wondering why this scene of getting a haircut was chosen to be in this book. However I became invested in it, I felt myself there, in Nick's barber shop,looking at the "Official haircuts for Men and Boys"(17). I was thrilledwiththe way Cooper could take an experience that lasted only several minutes and pack it full of so much description. I keep wondering why this scene is what I think of when I think about reading this book. In a memoir, it's all about what you choose to include, how ho est do you want to be? We all were surprised when in Capiche? Cooper admits to lying, or at least a partial lie. I felt it was no coincidence that these two stories went one after the other. Both stories that seem to have almost no place in the rest of the book. They make no (true) reference to his experiences growing up, instead they show us how he is today, how he thinks and what he notices. When Cooper tells us, "But lies are filled with modulationsof untranslatable truth, and early this morning when I awake, birds were restless in the olive trees."(20), I feel as though he is just telling his readers too look deeper. The truth is what you choose to believe. And weather you wake up in Itlay, or are getting a haircut; there are hidden truths and bold faced lies to sort through when preciving your world and telling your story. Another chapter that really stood out to me was Maps to Anywhere. It reminds me a lot of Atlantis in that he spared us nothing on the descriptions, and at the same time leaves us wondering what the context is around this scenario. What happened before and after he bought the globe? "...I can barely hear myself say. From far away, for within the dark, I lie."(37) I can't help but wonder from what darkness his lie comes from. And with so many lies put in front of our face, it makes me wonder, does Cooper find himself lying to himself? While describing the decent of his brother into death, Cooper speaks of his feelings toward his brother as boardering on desire, but that he shuns these feelings. When an author will so quickly weave a lie into his story it often leads to a shaky foundation of trust when reading, however with Cooper I was so pulled in by his attention to detail that the few lies he shared with us only helped to give me a greater idea of what was/is going on in his mind not only in the outside old he interacts with. I felt it pleaded the reader to look deeper. I enjoyed how Cooper used the span of the book to show the development of his relationships with his brother, father and mother. You see how death has changed not only the individual but they way the interact with others. How his fathers life went in cycles, as did his motherd. How the life and sickness and death affected the relationships within the family. Coopers afraid it seems to get to close to his dad, the only other member of his family not separated from him by death. And yet it seems that the both of them are more comfortable with a separation. Neither ever wanting to get too close to the other, out of fear. This delicate and precarious relationship kept me glued to this book. I wanted to know how things came to be. Why these relationships were the way they were. How would this family overcome such a large loss, or could they?