What I Think I Did by Larry Woiwode

What I Think I Did, by late-sixties/early-seventies New York-publishing scene golden boy, Larry Woiwode (pronounced "Ywood"), is one of those books that haunts me, not because it was so impacting, but because it wasn't. I always get nervous when I don't enjoy a book as much as the literary "experts" argue that I should, but this was the case.

Woiwode's first volume is apparently the first of what is to be a three-volume memoir, a genre Woiwode defines as "an attempt to tame memory's takeovers into paths we tiptoe down toward the truth." The problem is there's not much action in his story to tame.

The key to memoir is the identification of a metaphor that serves the story by illustrating in picture what the author is saying in words about his or her life. Simple enough. That being said, the problem with Woiwode's memoir is the choice of metaphor: a tempermental furnace - not exactly your most memorable or exciting take on life, to say the least.

I suppose the furnace analogy takes on a little more importance in the context of Woiwode's retired existence in frigid North Dakota, but only barely. When the first two-thirds of the book jumps back and forth between a random memory of college life at the University of Illinois and trying (again) to keep the furnace burning against the upper midwest cold, you know it's going to be a slow read, especially when Woiwode's Faulknerian writing style (not one of my favorites) rambles and clutters up what makes a clean sentence.

All that said, though, I kept reading, and it got better, but only when Woiwode strayed from his furnace metaphor and started thinking out loud (the last third of the book). The stories of Woiwode's start as a writer, his work getting published (in his twenties) in The New Yorker and other well-known east coast magazines, and his relationship with famed editor William Maxwell were most interesting. Also of interest was Woiwode's retelling of his pseudo-acting career and his friendship with one Bob De Niro (of Robert De Niro fame).

While the general metaphor was lost on me, there were some moments of observation I appreciated - on writing, on faith, on love. And, despite not really liking the book, I think I would like Woiwode, and that always makes me want to finish a book, which is what I think I did (which is what I thought I wouldn't).