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A review by lukedaloop
Jesus, My Father, the Cia, and Me: A Memoir. . . of Sorts by Ian Morgan Cron
2.0
While I definitely felt there was a worth-while narrative being told, I didn't find much cohesion among the different elements that made up the narrative. While the author/narrator is very direct in letting the reader know the effect his father had on him (for better or worse), he never seemed to make an adequate comparison to his actions and his father's influence on those actions. Each chapter would tell a story from Ian's life, but very rarely would there be the corollary the title and premise of the book promises. Each chapter seems to be "This is a time where I screwed up or where something went wrong, and it's my father's fault"; aside from the few chapters where Ian's father is directly involved in the story being told, we have no real connection between these events and his father. His father is a constant presence in the story, but as a reader we are never presented many solid facts as to why something is happening. The narrator presents it as a given, and this being a memoir (of sorts) that makes sense, but it limits the empathy we can give the character.
His religious epiphanies also seem to fall flat because of this. Because he never illuminates the day to day struggle with his father, only the impact that this struggle had on him, his conversion (or reversion) to faith doesn't seem as dramatic to the reader as it must have felt for Ian.
And while this is more of a personal preference, I feel that expounding on his father's connection to the CIA would have helped to illustrate his father's double life and aided in remedying the points I raised previously. But since the job at the CIA never takes on a large role in the narrative other than helping identify the type of man Ian's father is, I feel it's a wasted clarification. It could have been a huge aid in helping understand the situation, but was squandered.
I also have a problem with the copious amounts of pop culture references in the memoir, most used as analogies. It dates the book and will make it more difficult to understand in the not-too-distant future. While I understand the references now, someone in ten to fifteen years may not. I do not think many of them are as timeless as the author believes.
One exceptional standout of the memoir, however, is the chapter on the family trip to the quarry. It is a well told story, and the message being impressed is told subtly but very effectively. It fits well within it's context, and it's meaning is very much understood without much grandstanding or monologuing. It fits well, and was the most enjoyable part of the book for me.
Overall the memoir is well-written, but failed to get me to empathize with the main character in an effective way. It reads more as an over-long witness at a church rally or retreat, but that message suffers because of that. Amputated from the emotion of that context, it's a book that fails to capitalize on the depth and emotion of it's main conflict, and the overall story and message being told suffers because of this.
His religious epiphanies also seem to fall flat because of this. Because he never illuminates the day to day struggle with his father, only the impact that this struggle had on him, his conversion (or reversion) to faith doesn't seem as dramatic to the reader as it must have felt for Ian.
And while this is more of a personal preference, I feel that expounding on his father's connection to the CIA would have helped to illustrate his father's double life and aided in remedying the points I raised previously. But since the job at the CIA never takes on a large role in the narrative other than helping identify the type of man Ian's father is, I feel it's a wasted clarification. It could have been a huge aid in helping understand the situation, but was squandered.
I also have a problem with the copious amounts of pop culture references in the memoir, most used as analogies. It dates the book and will make it more difficult to understand in the not-too-distant future. While I understand the references now, someone in ten to fifteen years may not. I do not think many of them are as timeless as the author believes.
One exceptional standout of the memoir, however, is the chapter on the family trip to the quarry. It is a well told story, and the message being impressed is told subtly but very effectively. It fits well within it's context, and it's meaning is very much understood without much grandstanding or monologuing. It fits well, and was the most enjoyable part of the book for me.
Overall the memoir is well-written, but failed to get me to empathize with the main character in an effective way. It reads more as an over-long witness at a church rally or retreat, but that message suffers because of that. Amputated from the emotion of that context, it's a book that fails to capitalize on the depth and emotion of it's main conflict, and the overall story and message being told suffers because of this.