Return of the Lost Son

<p>A son searches for his father only to grow uncomfortable--and even miserable--with what he exhumes. Where he asks are the limits of forgiveness? Is failure a badge of honor? Are we free to share the secrets of the dead? In <i>Return of the Lost Son </i> a vivid tightly paced memoir Christopher Gonzales attempts to understand a man who due to early-onset Alzheimer's was unable to share his own memories. <p/>At the outset of his exploration Gonzales hopes to discover a benevolent father figure someone he could imagine guiding him through the difficult terrain of life. Instead he is met with shadowy fragments of his father's habits--drinking womanizing and aloofness--as well as a hidden marriage which all force Gonzales to acknowledge that he might never uncover the angel he hoped to find. Constructed with clear-eyed prose and abounding with colorful travel stories wending inner journeys and psychological intricacies <i>Return of the Lost Son</i> emerges from a committed project of asking and listening recovering memory and community and ultimately healing.</p>