Raising Raffi: A Book about Fatherhood (For People Who Would Never Read Such a Book)

Description

'Memoirs of fatherhood are rarely so honest or so blunt' - Daniel Engber, Atlantic 'Raising Raffi is tender and generous' - New York Magazine Keith Gessen had always assumed that he would have kids, but couldn't imagine what parenthood would be like, nor what kind of parent he would be. Then, one Tuesday night in early June, Raffi was born, a child as real and complex and demanding of his parents' energy as he was singularly magical. Fatherhood is another country: a place where the old concerns are swept away, where the ordering of time is reconstituted, where days unfold according to a child's needs. Like all parents, Gessen wants to do what is best for his child. But he has no idea what that is. Written over the first five years of Raffi's life, Raising Raffi examines the profound, overwhelming, often maddening experience of being a dad. How do you instil in your child a sense of his heritage without passing on that history's darker sides? Is parental anger normal, possibly useful, or is it inevitably destructive? And what do you do, in a pandemic, when the whole world seems to fall apart? By turns hilarious and poignant, Raising Raffi is a story of what it means to invent the world anew. 'This fatherhood shit ain't easy, but Gessen might just help us make it through' - Adam Mansbach, author of GO THE F*CK TO SLEEP

Keith Gessen was born in Moscow in 1975 and came to the United States with his family when he was six years old. He is a co-founder of the literary magazine n+1 and the author of the novels All the Sad Young Literary Men and A Terrible Country. He has translated or co-translated several books from Russian, including Voices from Chernobyl by Svetlana Alexievich. He lives in New York with his wife, the author and publisher Emily Gould, and their two sons.

A wise, mild and enviably lucid book about a chaotic scene... Gessen is a calm and observant writer - if he were a singer, he'd always come in a bit behind the beat - who raises, and struggles with, the right questions about himself and the world -- Dwight Garner * New York Times * Given the bedlam it describes, Raising Raffi is impressively clear-sighted, entertaining and analytical -- Lucy Scholes * Financial Times * A funny and disarmingly sweet book, Raising Raffi is written with the discipline of a committed reader who has found refuge in reading amidst the trials of parenthood, a global pandemic and the outbreak of war -- Louis Cammell * Skinny * Keith Gessen writes captivatingly about bringing up his son... engaging, accessible, down to earth... There is much wry humour here -- James Cook * Times Literary Supplement * A father's careful, piercing introspection, and a deep analysis of anger... Gessen writes about his temperamental, trying son with a depth that can only come from years of loving observation... Memoirs of fatherhood are rarely so honest or so blunt -- Daniel Engber * Atlantic * I didn't know I was waiting for a book like this until I read it. Raising Raffi is original, funny, and full of heart -- Daniel Alarcon, author of AT NIGHT WE WALK IN CIRCLES My brother wrote a book about my nephew, and this book made me laugh and tear up. It's a book about love: the love of a father for his child, of course, and also the love of an adult son for his parents (our parents), the love an emigre feels for the language (Russian) and culture (Soviet Jewish emigre) of his home. It's a book about the way love makes us feel powerless one minute and strong the next -- Masha Gessen, author of THE FUTURE IS HISTORY Gessen offers both investigative probe and personal confession; he's both a critic and a dad... But it's one of the most honest accounts of the rage a parent can feel when personally victimized by their small children, even as they love those children with stupefying tenderness. I've never seen this reckoned with so candidly before -- Meghan Flaherty * Slate * Raising Raffi is tender and generous * New York magazine * A raw, wry, introspective chronicle of the first five years of dad life... It raises profound questions about what it means to raise a boy when the old ways of being a man have been discredited and the new ones have yet to saturate. If you are a father, want to be a father, have a father, or are thinking of leaving the father of your children, then this book is for you -- Anand Giridharadas, author of WINNERS TAKE ALL