Book Review: Losing Mum and Pup: A Memoir, by Christopher Buckley (2009)

 

My well-worn paperback copy of Losing Mum and Pup, by Christopher Buckley, 2009. (Photo by Mark C. Taylor)

Christopher Buckley had resolved not to write about his famous parents, Patricia Taylor Buckley, and William F. Buckley, but once they passed away within 10 months of each other, Buckley decided to write about that terrible year. The book that emerged was Losing Mum and Pup, published in 2009.

I read Losing Mum and Pup in 2012, and although it was easily one of my favorite books that I read that year, I neglected to review it at the time. Last month I listened to the audio version, read by Christopher Buckley. My own Father passed away last December, and I thought, well, why not revisit Losing Mum and Pup?

Losing Mum and Pup is a moving book, as Buckley details dealing with two aging parents as an only child. But more than that, Losing Mum and Pup is a celebration of Buckley’s parents, and they remain vibrantly alive on the pages of this fine book.

Christopher Buckley is best-known as a humorist and satirist, and he has the right temperament to see the absurdities often apparent in matters of the end of life. When WFB is taken into the hospital in June of 2007 because his kidneys aren’t functioning, Christopher informs us that reiterating to WFB for the umpteenth time that day that they aren’t able to go home just quite yet is “like being on Firing Line, on acid.” (p.99) In time, WFB’s kidneys recover and he’s able to go home.

There are moving scenes, as when WFB dictates to Christopher the final paragraphs of his book Flying High: Remembering Barry Goldwater. “He made hardly any self-corrections as he spoke. The words came out punctuated and paragraphed. And quickly…In less than ten minutes, we were on the last paragraph of the last book he would write.” (p.142) But then the chapter is lost, thanks to the vagaries of WordStar, an obsolete word-processing program that WFB remained stubbornly dedicated to. “Pup redictated the chapter, practically verbatim. When we went over it the next day, there was little it needed other than a comma here and a word there. I was, for the thousandth time in my life, in awe of him.” (p.143)

Losing Mum and Pup was my introduction to the personal life of William F. Buckley, Jr. I was fascinated by the books Christopher mentioned: Cruising Speed and Overdrive, which each covered a week in the life of WFB, and numerous books about sailing, such as Airborne, which chronicles a crossing of the Atlantic Ocean. Reading Overdrive in 2013 helped me recommit to my own writing, and since then I’ve become a much more productive writer. And, one can only hope, a better writer.

Losing Mum and Pup is a fantastic book. Funny and moving, it showcases the best of Christopher Buckley’s writing.