A review by brnineworms
All Down Darkness Wide: A Memoir by Seán Hewitt

dark emotional inspiring reflective sad tense medium-paced

5.0

“Ghosts in the water, ghosts in the blood. Everything, once you start to look, is haunted.”

A beautifully written memoir, moving and evocative. I love the water motif, the way the weather sets the mood, the gothic quality of ghosts and graveyards. It feels right reading it at this time of year; I don’t often reread books, but I could see this becoming a late autumn tradition for me.

Hewitt is sympathetic – more so than I would have been in his situation, I know. He’s honest about his fear and anger without getting stuck in it. His writing is deeply personal but he also relates his experiences to The Queer Experience more broadly, with musings on the closet, on assimilation, and how our survival strategies protect us at the cost of eroding our Selves.

It hits like cold rain. I needed it.

CONTENT WARNINGS:

depression, suicidality, grief, guilt, paranoia/panic, dependence on alcohol and smoking, unhealthy relationship, homophobia