Michael Hainey’s After Visiting Friends: A Son’s Story isn’t your traditional memoir. Hainey doesn’t extoll a long list of his personal accomplishments with hackneyed hind-sighted commentary. In fact, there are very few mentions of Hainey’s position as GQ Magazine’s Deputy Editor. After Visiting Friends achieves its (auto)biographical aims by attempting to solve the mystery that had chased Hainey since the fateful day he is told his father, Bob Hainey, died “after visiting friends.” Hainey asks the question no one seems to ask, “who are these friends?” Interviewing old friends and colleagues of his late father, Hainey finds himself traveling through time, several times revisiting scenes of his father’s life.
After Visiting Friends is a singular piece of long-form descriptive journalism with an ever present voice. The language is rife with profound metaphor which keeps the story riveting, beautiful, and unique. After Visiting Friends is immersive, the vibrant landscapes of 1960’s Chicago and Nebraska feel alive. Hainey’s autobiography is also an intimate biography of his mother, and a sons journey to retrieve lost years with his late father by solving the mystery of his untimely death.
Hainey documents his discoveries with vivid descriptions of the many characters and eras he visits, be it the newsroom of the Chicago Sentinel in the 1960s, the Hainey household during Michael’s youth, or Michael’s modern-day travels. Hainey’s memoir is a tale of discovery. His quest to discover his father’s mysterious “friends” is the vehicle to tell his family’s story, not only his own. Hainey’s curiosity and hereditary journalistic talent propel the story forward in at times humorous and always intriguing ways keeping interest high and the book stuck fast in a reader’s hands until its conclusion.
The verdict? Read After Visiting Friends, you'll learn something about yourself along the way.
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