The Death of My Father the Pope, Obed Silva
The Death of My Father the Pope, Obed Silva
List: $19.99 | Sale: $13.99
Club: $9.99

The Death of My Father the Pope
A Memoir

Author: Obed Silva

Narrator: Andrew Joseph Perez

Unabridged: 8 hr 18 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Published: 12/06/2022


Synopsis

A man mourning his alcoholic father faces a choice: whether to pay tribute, lay scorn upon him, or pour a drink. A wrenching, dazzling, revelatory debut.Weaving between preparations for his father’s funeral and memories of life on both sides of the U.S.–Mexico border, Obed Silva chronicles his father’s alcoholism—a lifelong love that ended only at his death at the age of forty-eight, having poisoned himself one Carta Blanca at a time. Addiction respects no borders; the havoc Silva’s father wreaked on his family not only followed them north, where mother and son moved to escape his violent drunken rages, but would make itself felt even from the grave.
With a wry cynicism; a profane, profound anger; an antic, brutally honest voice; and a hard-won classical frame of reference, Silva channels the heartbreak of mourning while wrestling with the resentment and frustration resulting from addiction. The Death of My Father the Pope is a fluid and dynamic combination of memoir and examination of the power of language—and the introduction of a unique and powerful literary voice.

Reviews

Goodreads review by James

Thanks to Netgalley and FSG for the ebook. Obed Silva is an English professor in California. He’s also in a wheelchair and can’t keep any relationship because he can never stop drinking. Now he’s in Mexico and surrounded by his large, extended family as they gather to bury Obed’s father who has died......more

Goodreads review by Melinda

Obed Silva’s book is so deeply affecting because he never shies away from his own complicity, his own accountability. An honest, fearless memoir, with well-drawn characters that testify to Silva’s compassion, his sense of humor, his gifts of observation, his ability to illuminate connections between......more

Goodreads review by Ellie

I had the privilege to hear Obed read at an event and man, this man has lead a liiiife. His storytelling is generous, infectious, and beautiful. You can hear Obed’s voice throughout this whole book. Highly recommend......more