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wrenreads2025 's review for:
On the Move: A Life
by Oliver Sacks
I had no idea that Sacks lived such an erratic life. Yes, it was extremely interesting to read about his many adventures.
I knew about his life as a neurologist, but I didn't know about his childhood in England, his education at Oxford, his days driving through Canada and the US on a motorcycle, his achievements as a power lifter in Venice Beach, and his decades living without a life partner.
But the structure of his memoir ran parallel to his impulsive, solipsistic, and obsessive life, and I just couldn't keep up with him.
I will say that I found his quest to find love as the most salient theme, and the most heartbreaking. Finding a life partner is challenging enough for someone who alternates between being shy and intense; however, being gay in the 1950s, 1960s and 1970s was torture for Sacks.
I skimmed to see if he found love and was quite happy to read that he found a life partner during his final years. But I just couldn't plow through his book after about page 140.
I have only read a handful of his essays, which I love. I will read through some of his books, and then maybe I will be more patient about "hanging out" with him through his memoir. I'm a bit frenetic myself, and I need a bit more order and calm to complement my own wandering-yet-obsessive attention span.
I knew about his life as a neurologist, but I didn't know about his childhood in England, his education at Oxford, his days driving through Canada and the US on a motorcycle, his achievements as a power lifter in Venice Beach, and his decades living without a life partner.
But the structure of his memoir ran parallel to his impulsive, solipsistic, and obsessive life, and I just couldn't keep up with him.
I will say that I found his quest to find love as the most salient theme, and the most heartbreaking. Finding a life partner is challenging enough for someone who alternates between being shy and intense; however, being gay in the 1950s, 1960s and 1970s was torture for Sacks.
I skimmed to see if he found love and was quite happy to read that he found a life partner during his final years. But I just couldn't plow through his book after about page 140.
I have only read a handful of his essays, which I love. I will read through some of his books, and then maybe I will be more patient about "hanging out" with him through his memoir. I'm a bit frenetic myself, and I need a bit more order and calm to complement my own wandering-yet-obsessive attention span.