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Reviewed by Robert Collier III for Readers' Favorite
Denise Thompson-Slaughter’s memoir Since You Weren’t There & Other Memories charts her personal path through the social landscape of the 1950s, 60s, and 70s. She recounts explicit moments such as her teenage uncles shooting rats from a Kenilworth dining-room window, buying Little Golden Books at People’s Drug Store, and confronting her grandfather over his Great Depression frugality and racial prejudices. She records the distinct cultural shifts of her generation, highlighting her political awakening during a pepper-gas incident at a University of Maryland chapel and her reliance on second-wave feminism through Betty Friedan’s book The Feminine Mystique. Her memories extend into late-adulthood encounters, including a befuddled interaction with a hospital visitor named Ted/Ed while waiting for an elbow replacement surgery. Her book stands as a powerful record of a woman finding her voice and purpose amidst global uncertainty.
Denise Thompson-Slaughter’s Since You Weren’t There & Other Memories is a compelling memoir that offers a very intimate viewing window into a generation’s collective soul. The most striking thing about it is how seamlessly Denise connects the grand political shifts of the era—from Cold War anxieties to harbor ship interactions during World War II—with the fragile, human vulnerabilities of everyday life. She writes with raw sincerity about the difficulties of navigating her father’s alcoholism, her grandmother’s sudden battle with paranoid schizophrenia, and the lingering grief of losing her brother, Bruce, and her close friend, Ian. There is a lovely comfort in her stories of unexpected grace, whether it is an anonymous box of food left on her doorstep after returning from Woodstock or a random encounter along a river levee that allowed her to help a stranger in distress. It is an honest, beautiful reflection on aging, memory, and the enduring power of love that leaves you feeling deeply connected to the author’s journey. Very highly recommended.
