Raising Raffi by Keith Gessen
Novelist and translator Keith Gessen ditches the idea of universal experience for something much more personal in this memoir on fatherhood
Keith Gessen’s collection of essays has the light, conversational tone of a chat with an old friend as they reflect on five years of parenthood. And while Raising Raffi would still have lots going for it without having accidentally captured the madness of 2020-22, this certainly lends the book additional weight.
Gessen left Soviet-era Russia for the US at age six, and the difference between his and his son’s cultural starting-points is central to many of his preoccupations. These include: parenting books that offer a one-size-fits-all approach (spoiler: one size does not fit all); bedtime stories around the world; the US school system, for all its strengths and weaknesses; and a bilingual upbringing.
A funny and disarmingly sweet book, Raising Raffi is written with the discipline of a committed reader who has found refuge in reading amidst the trials of parenthood, a global pandemic and the outbreak of war. Gessen illustrates and backs up all of his points with academic precision, practically giving the reader an abridged literature review every time he wants to broach a subject. Basically, he’s done all of the reading so you don’t have to.
This is a piece of life writing that is part memoir, part meditation and part self-help guide by way of literary criticism. It’s a curated guide of what the common wisdom may be, and why it might actually be no help at all.
Icon Books, 27 Oct