My Father's Footprints: A Memoir [Hardcover]

Colin McEnroe (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: August 2003

Starting with the death of his father and chronicling backwards, the author examines their relationship in order to understand his dad, not just as a father, but as a man.

Editorial Reviews

From Booklist

Here's an interesting way to write a memoir: backwards. The author begins with the passing of his father, playwright Robert McEnroe, and moves back through the years. We see a relationship developing in reverse, beginning with the son, a grown man, taking care of his father. Gradually, father and son assume their traditional roles: the author is a boy, and his father is the protector. Because of its structure, this memoir is far more touching and emotional than many similar remembrances of lost loved ones. The author shows us his father as he was before his death, with failing body and mind, and then leads us back through the years to let us see the strong, intelligent man he used to be. We see everything the father once was, and this allows us to understand, and even (to some degree) feel the son's loss. David Pitt
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

About the Author

Colin McEnroe lives in West Hartford, Connecticut.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 224 pages
• Publisher: Grand Central Publishing (August 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0446529338
• ISBN-13: 978-0446529334
• Product Dimensions: 5.8 x 0.8 x 8.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #677,237 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

6 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A story you will read aloud to others, August 29, 2003

By 

Robert Gibson (Takoma Park, MD) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: My Father's Footprints: A Memoir (Hardcover)

I stayed up late during a three-day black-out and read this slim, powerful story by candlelight , hunched on the edge of my bed. When I came upon a passage so true and funny and searing, I woke my wife up to read it to her, because someone else had to revel with me in this story.
It's an odd and unusual book (with a very odd and unusual man that it chases), one that feels too short and incomplete and in places still raw and unresolved. But it's real and funny and moving and one of a kind. You may think you have had your fill of memoirs, but you have room for this one.
Days later, its mysteries and lessons and pain and wry humour stay with me, and I know I'll go back to it. And I'll keep buying copies to give as gifts. It's that affecting.

2 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars More than I bargained for, November 29, 2005

By 

Kathy Connolly (Connecticut) - See all my reviews

This review is from: My Father's Footprints: A Memoir (Hardcover)

Knowing what I do of Colin McEnroe, I expected this book to be thoughtful, intriguing, and sometimes funny. What I didn't realize was that the book would carry me back through time, deeper into my own Irish roots. With each chapter, I started to understand my own family and history in a different way. After reading the book, I actually felt like I had travelled somewhere - more fun per penny than a trip to Europe!

5.0 out of 5 stars Hartford radio host considers his genetic &spiritual legacy, July 24, 2003

By A Customer

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: My Father's Footprints: A Memoir (Hardcover)

I really resent having to work until 5 everyday because it means I miss two hours of Colin McEnroe on WTIC-AM. He doesn't mention anywhere in "My Father's Footprints" that he has a radio job, but I hope he never gives it up...when he does I'll have to switch to Books on Tape. I pre-ordered this to find out more about the private Colin, who I assumed came from Old Money. Aha, his background is as much emotionally-savaged-immigrant-white-collar-miserable-socially-shamed-let's-not-talk-about -it as mine.
McEnroe's father is such an extraordinary character this book really had to be written. He bequeathed a lot of the content himself...the priceless, desperate fey humor of the the genius under siege...right down to titles for bizarre, sardonic fruit pies..
And then there is reliving the experience of the offspring...realizing that your difficult parent was struggling with mental illness -- and that that is part of who you are, too -- joyous, troubled and gifted yourself, but with the wisdom to ground your own kid's self-esteem with firmer cement.
I would recommend this book especially for anyone mourning a parent while raising their own heir to the family curses.