Road Song: A Memoir - Softcover

Kusz, Natalie

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0374528276 ISBN 13: 9780374528270

Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 1990

Synopsis

"Riveting--Kusz's gifts as a writer, her original voice and sparkling perceptions, give this memoir the literary precision of a novel."--Los Angeles Times
When she was six years old, Natalie Kusz left Los Angeles with her family and headed north to Alaska on a classic quest for freedom, a house on the land, and a more wholesome way of living. Here is hery and survival in an unforgiving environment. "Riveting. . . ."--Los Angeles Times. Serial rights to McCall's and Harper's.

About this title

Review:

In 1969, when she was six years old, Natalie Kusz, with her parents and three siblings, left Los Angeles and headed north to Alaska on a classic quest for freedom, a house on the land, and a more wholesome way of living. As with so many pioneers in our history, a heroic struggle and hardships of epic proportions lay ahead of them. What makes their adventure so remarkable is that it happened barely twenty years ago.

Review:

Natalie Kusz's father was five years old and living in Poland when World War II started. He watched as people "turned into dogs" and his own family was splintered in an effort to survive; later he moved to the United States. Natalie's mother had no intention of marrying the young man with the heavy accent and cumbersome manners, yet she did and together they created a family with four children. In 1968, when their oldest child, Natalie, is six years old, they move to Alaska, tired of the violence and artificiality of life in California. For the next eight years they live in a trailer with no running water or electricity, always planning the house they will build when they can afford it. The first winter, Natalie is mauled by a dog; she loses half her face and is expected to die. Over the years she and her family endure continual surgeries, poverty, heart attacks, and teenage pregnancy. Road Song is Natalie Kusz's testament to her family and the traditions and beliefs that held them together, a book of calm, solid wisdom and beauty. Her insights, won at great cost, are presented with a singular grace: "hopes are white stones shining up from the bottoms of pools, and every clear day we reach in up to the shoulder, selecting a few and rearranging the others, drawing our arms smoothly back into air, leaving no scar on the water." The courage of her family, their love of life and each other, are awe-inspiring. -- For great reviews of books for girls, check out Let's Hear It for the Girls: 375 Great Books for Readers 2-14. -- From 500 Great Books by Women; review by Erica Bauermeister

About this edition

• Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux
• Publication date: 1990
• ISBN 10: 0374528276
• ISBN 13: 9780374528270
• Binding: Paperback
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 258