Screening Room
- Author Alan Lightman
- Narrator Bronson Pinchot
- Publisher Blackstone Publishing
- Publish Date 10 February 2015
- Run Time 5 hours and 59 minutes
- Format Audio
- Genre History of the Americas, Local history, Memoirs, Social and cultural history.
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What to expect
From the acclaimed author of the international bestseller Einstein's Dreams, here is a lyrical memoir of Memphis from the 1930s through the 1960s: the music and the racism, the early days of the movies, and a powerful grandfather whose ghost continues to haunt the family.
Alan Lightman's grandfather M. A. Lightman was the family's undisputed patriarch: it was his movie theater empire that catapulted the family to prominence in the South, his fearless success that both galvanized and paralyzed his descendants, haunting them for a half century after his death. In this lyrical and impressionistic memoir, Lightman writes about returning to Memphis in an attempt to understand the people he so eagerly left behind forty years earlier. As aging uncles and aunts begin telling family stories, Lightman rediscovers his southern roots and slowly realizes the errors in his perceptions of his grandfather and of his own father, who had been crushed by M. A. Here is a family saga set against a throbbing century of Memphis—the rhythm and blues, the barbecue and pecan pie, and the segregated society—that includes personal encounters with Elvis, Martin Luther King Jr., and E. H. "Boss" Crump. At the heart of it all is a family haunted by the ghost of the domineering M. A. and the struggle of the author to understand his conflicted loyalties to his father and grandfather.
Critics Review
u201cIn this sensual evocation of the past, Lightman, a physicist and novelist, shines a lush and tender light on his familyu2019s storied pastu2026rich in detailu2026It is when Lightman reckons with the irreconcilableu2014the things unsaid, the questions not answeredu2014that the memoir ascends to a state of grace.u201d
u201cA fine addition to Lightmanu2019s oeuvre, this a great story tinged with nostalgia for an America that no longer exists. The author grew up in Memphis, Tennessee, and the book is full of quirky history and details about that iconic American city.u201d
u201cA subtly fictionalized, emotionally refined, and radiantly ndescriptive chronicleu2026It is Alanu2019s frank and ntender portraits of his u2018grossly mismatchedu2019 and sadly derailed parents nand his candid tribute to their African American housekeeper, Blanche, nthat give this remembrance such poignant dimensionu2026Lightmanu2019s utterly transfixing screening of soulful and funny nfamily memories projects a quintessentially American tale.u201d
u201cA family death sends ancelebrated author back to his boyhood home in Memphis, Tennessee, where manynfamily members and memories awaitu2026The cumulative effect of Lightmanu2019s memories is wrenching: lossnand illness and death wander freely in his pages, reminding us of thenevanescence of youth and promise. The author shows us manynsmall moments, igniting each with sparks of passion, memory, and intelligence.u201d
u201cThe theoretical physicist turned writer brings to Screening Room: Family Pictures the same empathy, insight, and fine prose that distinguish his other works…Like his incomparable novel Einsteinu2019s Dreams, this memoir is, at its core, a tender meditation on the passage of time. With Lightman we can smell the u2018sweet honeysuckle of memoryu2019 as we appreciate the joy and sorrow of his homecoming.u201d
u201cScrewball, electric, heartfelt, and true, Screening Room pulls non punches. This is Lightman in a new guise and yet never more himself asn he resurrects with aching care the time, place, and people that gave himn life. I was stirred and moved.u201d
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