The memoir I chose for this assignment was The Year We Disappeared by John and Cylin Busby. One reason I wanted to read this book because of the dynamic in storytelling it provides. The first storyteller is Cylin Busby, the youngest and only daughter of the family. She gives her perspective as a young child, starting from before the shooting of her father and after, highlighting the physical effects to her family and the mental effects of constant fear on her and her brothers. The other narrator is John Busby, the patriarch of the family who is shot in the face by (allegedly) Raymond Meyers. His part of the story follows his frequent visits to hospital over the year the memoir takes place, and his agony in a state of helplessness. John
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In the back of the book where Cylin and John answered questions, he said, “The second reason is now that the statute of limitations for my attempted murder has expired, the only justice for us is to put this out to as large an audience as we can reach to expose the people responsible and those who aided them by butchering the police investigation of the crime.” Throughout the book, John often stated that, based upon past experiences, the police investigation would be inconclusive because no one was committed to the discovery of his assailant. I think another motivation for John could be closure. John’s way of telling his story is describing his anger and how that affected him. He definitely does not sound like he wants the audience to pity him, John just wants to inform the reader about his experiences after the shooting and in the police force, and his journey from anger to content. Cylin’s purpose was to get her father’s story out there. Her style of writing would often follow her father’s point of view, they would play off of each other’s memories from the time. Their writing was so engaging because it made me feel the suspense of their life after the attack, from the round-clock police escorts to the 8 foot fence to the guard dog, the reader would quickly grasp the urgency of the situation. Nothing about this narrative or the narrators made the story seem untrue, this was such a real experience that I don’t think the Busby’s had to lie about
In the back of the book where Cylin and John answered questions, he said, “The second reason is now that the statute of limitations for my attempted murder has expired, the only justice for us is to put this out to as large an audience as we can reach to expose the people responsible and those who aided them by butchering the police investigation of the crime.” Throughout the book, John often stated that, based upon past experiences, the police investigation would be inconclusive because no one was committed to the discovery of his assailant. I think another motivation for John could be closure. John’s way of telling his story is describing his anger and how that affected him. He definitely does not sound like he wants the audience to pity him, John just wants to inform the reader about his experiences after the shooting and in the police force, and his journey from anger to content. Cylin’s purpose was to get her father’s story out there. Her style of writing would often follow her father’s point of view, they would play off of each other’s memories from the time. Their writing was so engaging because it made me feel the suspense of their life after the attack, from the round-clock police escorts to the 8 foot fence to the guard dog, the reader would quickly grasp the urgency of the situation. Nothing about this narrative or the narrators made the story seem untrue, this was such a real experience that I don’t think the Busby’s had to lie about