A review by eileen_critchley
Officer Clemmons: A Memoir by François Clemmons
3.0
***1/2
I enjoyed this memoir and think it's worth a read. I particularly liked reading about his family in the beginning of the book, as well as his struggles coming out as a gay man, and living with racism in America and his career field. It isn't as much about his relationship with Fred Rogers (although that is certainly a significant chunk of this book, and reiterates how lucky we all were to have him) as it is autobiographical, an account of his career as an opera singer and personal life. Some of the experiences he had were simply appalling, and can be written off as "well, that was the way it was at the time", but so very sad and awful. The writing was just OK, but I do enjoy reading about people who played small roles in history and I think parts of this book will stay with me, even though I think it might have benefited from the help of a co-author. I'm not familiar with Clemmons' singing or performances, but I am going to look to YouTube to hear his voice. In any case, it's a pretty amazing life story.
(library, kindle)
I enjoyed this memoir and think it's worth a read. I particularly liked reading about his family in the beginning of the book, as well as his struggles coming out as a gay man, and living with racism in America and his career field. It isn't as much about his relationship with Fred Rogers (although that is certainly a significant chunk of this book, and reiterates how lucky we all were to have him) as it is autobiographical, an account of his career as an opera singer and personal life. Some of the experiences he had were simply appalling, and can be written off as "well, that was the way it was at the time", but so very sad and awful. The writing was just OK, but I do enjoy reading about people who played small roles in history and I think parts of this book will stay with me, even though I think it might have benefited from the help of a co-author. I'm not familiar with Clemmons' singing or performances, but I am going to look to YouTube to hear his voice. In any case, it's a pretty amazing life story.
(library, kindle)