Week 5 Reading Response

Of this week's readings - "First Family of Astoria," "Memory," and ""Telling True Stories - part 4" - I was most intrigued by Tracy Kidder's "Memory."

I really like how the piece was organized; in the first several opening pages, different scenes are described, and each scene features the comings and goings of a different nursing home resident. For me, this really painted a picture of the nursing home itself and the characters residing there. In fact, initially, I thought this was a profile of the nursing home as an institution, as an assembly of elderly citizens stricken with memory problems/other health concerns.

Then the piece turns towards two characters and their relationship/memories/stories/histories (there are so many ways to say it) - Lou and Joe. I really like that the piece frames their relationship with initial introductions of the nursing home itself, as well as other patients; made the story matter more to me.

I was okay with the short excerpt describing how memory fades in old age - how there's no biological cause but there are psychological symptoms. It was short enough and descriptive enough where I didn't feel it interrupted the flow of the piece, and was in fact adequately informative.

"First Family of Astoria" didn't do much for me as a reader. It's both a profile of the family, and through the family's history, a profile of the town they live in. Ultimately, however, I was left wondering why I should care. I suppose it was interesting to read about such an eccentric group of people, but I felt disconnected.