Name: The Memory Chalet
ISBN: 9781594202896

Tony Judt

One of our leading historians, Judt has written extensively about the 20th century. Now he delivers a memoir like no other--each essay charts some experience or remembrance of the past through the sieve of Judt's prodigious mind.

The Memory Chalet

We cannot choose where we start out in life, but we may finish where we will. --Tony Judt, The Memory Chalet

If there was a book that was the antithesis of the schlock that Tuesdays with Morrie is, this would be it. This is a collection of essays that make up a memoir almost, written by Judt mostly as he battled ALS, becoming less able to control his body over time. This is a sad but beautiful book with stories of Judt's childhood in London, the experience of becoming slowly immobile, his family, his career including his experience in academia, his own experience of culture in moving to the US, his Jewish heritage. It is a fast, dense read but it is lovely. You get the feeling that Judt is telling you some of the stories in person as he walks a fine line between the conversational and the intellectual. It's a book about looking back at the end of a life and it is self-reflective but most importantly, it is self-aware; there is not an ounce of navel gaze in this and it reminds a reader that you can examine yourself but remain honest, have perspective. I enjoy Judt's historical books (Postwar is a dream for a WWII history buff) but this is something so special, so intimate that I can only hope you get to experience its effect.