About book Where Did You Sleep Last Night?: A Personal History (2009)
This is an outstanding book of the author's memoirs of her childhood, dealing with an abusive father, race issues and trying to establish who and what she is and was. Is is a powerful book discussing the events of a troubled childhood, tracing back her past through her father's black side, which was filled with lies and deceptions, but at last she arrives at the truth. I was left with wondering as how do we define ourselves? Are we a race or several races, are we a product of our environment, or something much more complicated? This was a very interesting personal history and give me lots to think about. I love that in a book. I highly recommend this book! I have read Danzy Senna's novels and liked them, felt the emotion of them, but her memoir lacks just that, emotion. From the beginning we know the author wants to learn more about her father's identity to know more about the man/her father. Unfortunately, I thought the exhaustive genealogical search overpowered the author's ability to make sense of her relationship with her father (although it did have me question why I haven't yet had the necessity to dig farther into the "roots" of my parents' families). I think I mistakenly thought WHERE DID YOU SLEEP LAST NIGHT was memoir, and thus was disappointed. But, I will reread the book because sometimes I am looking for what I want to find and not what is there.
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A wonderful portrait of a family fractured by divorce. Senna's story is honest and beautiful.
—dnikole
