Character Witness

<p>When Jason Brown's mother is arrested for stealing $38000 he agrees to serve as a character witness for her hoping to keep her out of prison.</p><p>Thus begins <em>Character Witness</em> a memoir a chronicle of a mother's struggle with mental illness addiction and poverty and an inquiry into whether we can escape the legacy of the past. Brown realizes that his troubles as a young man mirrored his mother's and as he chronicles how sexual abuse can pass down through generations--from father to daughter and later from mother to son--he begins to look for answers about whether people can change.</p><p>Brown and his mother share a difficult history but they also share a common sense of humor and a sense of the absurd. More than simply a recovery narrative <em>Character Witness</em> centers the necessity of staying with loved ones even in their worst moments. </p><p></p><p><strong>Jason Brown</strong> is a professor and director of the Creative Writing Program at the University of Oregon. He has published four books of short stories: <em>A Faithful but Melancholy Account of Several Barbarities Lately Committed</em> <em>Driving the Heart and Other Stories</em> <em>Why the Devil Chose New England for His Work</em> (an NPR summer reading pick) and <em>Outermark</em>. Brown has been a Stegner Fellow and his work has appeared in the <em>New Yorker</em> <em>The Atlantic</em> <em>Harper's</em> <em>The Best American Short Stories</em> and <em>The Best American Essays</em> and won a Pushcart Prize.</p><p></p>