Father's Day: A Journey into the Mind and Heart of My Extraordinary Son
Written by Buzz Bissinger
Narrated by Buzz Bissinger
4/5
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About this audiobook
Buzz Bissinger’s twin sons were born three minutes—and a world—apart. Gerry, the older one, is a graduate student preparing to become a teacher. His brother Zach has spent his life attending special schools. He’ll never drive a car, or kiss a girl, or live by himself. He is challenged by serious intellectual deficits but also blessed with rare talents: an astonishing memory, a dazzling knack for navigation, and a reflexive honesty, which can make him both socially awkward and surprisingly wise.
One summer night, Buzz and Zach hit the road to revisit all the places they have lived together during Zach’s twenty-four years. Zach revels in his memories, and Buzz hopes this journey into their shared past will bring them closer and reveal to him the mysterious workings of his son’s mind and heart.
As father and son follow a pinball’s path from Philadelphia to Los Angeles, they see the best and worst of America and each other. Ultimately, their trip bestows a new and uplifting wisdom on Buzz, as he comes to realize that Zach’s worldview, as exotic as it is, has a sturdy logic of its own, a logic that deserves the greatest respect. And with the help of Zach’s twin, Buzz learns an even more vital lesson about Zach: character transcends intellect. And we come to see Zach as he truly is—patient, fearless, perceptive, and kind.
Buzz Bissinger
Buzz Bissinger was born in 1954. He is a Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist, whose books include the New York Times bestsellers 3 Nights in August and Friday Night Lights. He has served as a contributing editor for Vanity Fair and as a sports columnist for the Daily Beast, and has written for the New York Times, the Washington Post, the New Republic, Time, and many other publications. He lives in both Southwestern Washington State and Philadelphia. He is married to Lisa Smith and has three children.
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Reviews for Father's Day
23 ratings4 reviews
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5touching story by one of the nation's great journalist and author of Friday Night Lights.
- Rating: 2 out of 5 stars2/5Truly, I wanted to love this book, but instead I am left with a sour taste in my mouth after finishing it. While I fell in love with Zach, Bissinger's mentally-impaired but delightful and loving son, his father Buzz comes across as such a narcissist that I just can't rate this book more highly. Because Mr. Bissinger focuses so much on his own interior whiny monologue, and his response to any kind of stress or frustration is to erupt in rage, I literally could not stand him by the end of the road trip he describes taking with Zach. I also felt that he used Zach to write a book, and therefore what kind things he did have to say about him felt saccharine and not particularly genuine. Just - blech.
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5touching story by one of the nation's great journalist and author of Friday Night Lights.
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5This is a lovely memoir/travelogue about a cross-country road trip that Bissinger (author of Friday Night Lights) takes across the country with his developmentally delayed savant son, Zach. In it we get a warts-and-all portrait of a smart, ambitious, moody, struggling and ultimately wonderful father and we get to know and fall in love with Zach. Profound and well-written, I highly, highly recommend this.