Review: Mathias B. Freese is a writer, teacher, and psychotherapist. His newest book, And Then I Am Gone: A Walk with Thoreau, is a memoir that reads like a series of essays, based on topics in Freese’s life, that matter most to him as he enters his twilight years. Unlike his first memoir, Tesserae: A Memoir of Two Summers, he takes the reader on a journey from New York to Alabama with Henry David Thoreau as his philosophical tour guide. The reader is taken on an emotional journey as well. Freese is insightful, angry, thoughtful, interesting, observational, and heartfelt in his writing. This is a must read for anyone who enjoys personal stories, classic literature, philosophical musings, and pop culture references of the past.
Excerpt:
My wife has prepared a little lunch for us, hard-boiled eggs, an artisanal bread you might like – she bakes, jam, butter, spring water and I hope it suffices as I know I need to take a break. She knows of you Henry and lunch is made simple in your honor. Here is a napkin.
Favorite lines:
This morning two mourning doves hogged the feeder, brushing aside the smaller birds, and I observed that the struggle of the fittest continues. However, the fittest are not always ethically the best.
Writers create little worlds; we are the gods of these worlds.
Quaquaversal… Briefly, it is defined as being in all directions, or emanating from a common center.
