Moving Target: A Memoir of Pursuit [Paperback]

Ron Arias (Author)

Product Details

• Paperback: 379 pages
• Publisher: Bilingual Pr (Bilrp) (December 1, 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1931010188
• ISBN-13: 978-1931010184
• Product Dimensions: 8.5 x 5.5 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,930,041 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Discover books, learn about writers, read author blogs, and more.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars I couldn't put "Moving Target" down for even a moment, May 16, 2003

By 

Joanna Daneman (Middletown, DE USA) - See all my reviews
(TOP 10 REVIEWER)    (VINE VOICE)    (COMMUNITY FORUM 04)    (HALL OF FAME REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Moving Target: A Memoir of Pursuit (Paperback)

I made the mistake of starting to read "Moving Target" before going to bed one evening; at 3 am I was still unable to put this book down. It's the memoir of Ron Arias, a staff correspondent for People Magazine. It starts out as a biography of Arias' parents. His father, Armando, is being held as a POW in Korea. His mother holds the family together until Armando's return. But this happy event is soon overshadowed by many troubles; Armando is being discredited by the Army, his promotion to captain is delayed (is it because he's Hispanic?) And he's a changed man, brooding, a strict disciplinarian but now with an edge since his return from near-starvation and survival of a Korean POW camp. Ron and his brothers find the household tense and troubling after Armando returns.

And there are more mysteries. Why does Ron's mother refuse to take communion at Sunday Mass? There is truth to be uncovered here, and Arias takes us on a young man's journey to find himself and his family.

The memoir also shows us Arias' development as a writer, from a chance encounter with Hemingway in Pamplona, to a course in English literature in Argentina from a Professor Borges (yes, Jorge Luis Borges.) And in Argentina, Ron begins a career as a journalist. We follow Ron through a stint in Peru as a Peace Corps volunteer and watch how a young and talented journalist develops. But the story of his family and his identity is an equally compelling thread.

This is probably one of the best memoirs I've read in years. The writing is crisp, the description of everyday details sharp and focused. Arias has the ability to go back and look out of the eyes of innocence and ignorance-we follow him along in the book as if we all were sent back in time in his life. If you liked "The Color of Water" or "Angela's Ashes" this book will resonate with you. You really should read it. I promise you won't be disappointed.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Searching for Daddy, April 3, 2003

By 

Charlotte Lipson (Las Cruces, NM United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Moving Target: A Memoir of Pursuit (Paperback)

Ron Arias, a People Magazine writer whose journalism ranges from disaster coverage to movie star profiles has written an absorbing account of his search for the man he called Daddy, a decorated veteran of WWII and Korea who cut off all contact with Ron and his two brothers after their mother died when they were young adults. It's a sad story about a father unable to express his emotions and whose natural reticence became almost pathological after his three-year internment in a Chinese prison camp during the Korean conflict. At the same time the memoir is the inspiring story of a young man, Ron Arias, who, despite the personal tragedies he has faced and the challenges of his childhood enjoys a fulfilling personal and professional life.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Page turner, March 29, 2003

By A Customer

This review is from: Moving Target: A Memoir of Pursuit (Paperback)

Moving Target: A Memoir of Pursuit: is a page-turner. The pursuit is Ron Arias's search to know who his father really was. Was Armando Arias a hero or a spy? Was he able to escape from prisoner of war camps during World War II because of his skill or because he had made friends with the enemy? Was his ability to get needed items for POWs in Korea because he was friendly with his captors or because he was just clever?

Finding the answers was not easy. Armando did not talk about his war experiences with his family and very rarely with anyone else. Was it because he had something to hide or because his experiences were so painful that he could not talk about them? Most of the information about who Armando really was had to come from those who had served with him, POW survivors, relatives and friends who knew him.

Writing with the skill of a professional journalist, which he has been for nearly 30 years, Ron Arias drops in new clues just in time to keep the reader turning to the next page and moving on to the next chapter without a break.

But Moving Target is more than a search for a real father. It is also a trip through history. Those old enough to remember the 40s, the 50s and the 60s will be reminded of the way things were, the way people lived, how they coped and survived. Younger readers will gain insight into a time that their parents and grandparents knew.

Ron Arias's work as a journalist specializing in disaster coverage - earthquakes and wars - and his quest to find the real Armando takes him to Mexico City, Buenos Aires, Cuzco, New York, Nogales, San Diego, Los Angeles, El Paso, Washington D.C., New England and Sarajevo. It?s a news travelogue and a family history, as well as a mystery of international intrigue. (From a 3/18/03 review by Robert E. Kimball, editor-in-chief of the Nogales International, Nogales, Ariz.)