A Good Man to Know: A Semi-Documentary Fictional Memoir
Worth buying if: You follow Barry Gifford's hybrid fiction and nonfiction experiments.
Skip it if: You want a straightforward, strictly factual autobiography.
Exact edition: Edition shown · ISBN-13 9780944439364. The Amazon link uses this ISBN, so the product page should open to the edition shown here.
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Summary
A Good Man to Know: A Semi-Documentary Fictional Memoir mixes memoir, reportage, and imaginative reconstruction as Barry Gifford navigates personal history through episodic vignettes and mediated documents.
Why this book now
Readers interested in hybrid life-writing and Gifford's wider corpus will find this 1992 experiment a compact example of genre play and personal myth-making.
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Best for readers who...
Good fit if you want...
- You follow Barry Gifford's hybrid fiction and nonfiction experiments.
- You enjoy short, episodic life-writing that mixes documents and narrative.
- When you want vivid sensory scenes, the plot forces tough decisions quickly.
- You want a straightforward, strictly factual autobiography.
- You prefer long, comprehensive memoirs rather than concise vignettes.
- You only want something with very current references and examples.
Decided it fits?
Exact edition: Edition shown · ISBN-13 9780944439364
Worth buying if: You follow Barry Gifford's hybrid fiction and nonfiction experiments.
Skip it if: You want a straightforward, strictly factual autobiography.
Check Amazon for the current price and availability of this exact edition.
Reader guide
Cues to help you decide faster.
Reading commitment
Light Short sit-downs
At 164 pages, this compact volume suits a few focused sittings—expect episodic chapters and a reading pace driven by reflection rather than plot.
What stands out here
This Clark City Press 1992 edition highlights Gifford's hybrid approach: semi-documentary techniques and fictionalized memory in a concise trade-paperback format.
Best way to approach it
Read slowly and attentively, treating each vignette as a layered artifact: note recurring images and the interplay of fact-like detail and imaginative reconstruction.
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Exact edition: ISBN-13 9780944439364
Check Amazon for the current price and availability of this exact edition.