Dubus however knows when he's on to something, and the essays here that stand out, such as that concerning the suicide of a gay military officer, show why Dubus earned his reputation as a craftsman. Much like his seminal story "A Father's Story," this essay tells us as much of the narrator as it does of the narrative's events. It's writing like this that shows the gulf between Dubus at his best, and Dubus simply on a friendly ramble, unable to mask his innate sadness -- both before and after the accident that left him in a wheelchair.
Perhaps that's what this book suggests most clearly, that Dubus never could quite wheel himself away from a depression that's as present as the author's almost daily upper-case Communion.
Also I visited the seashore that this book had taken as a cover.
I had translated his work just one in several months for Japanese readers in two literary magazines in Japan.
He did not kill by himself, I believe.Beautiful Thoughts "Meditations on a Movable Chair" is a great work of creative nonfiction. Dubus' thoughts resonate by the pure honesty in which they are presented. He gives us glimpses of his life that are important to him. And we see a man; not very unlike ourselves, who is struggling with a life lived in body, soul, and spirit. The result of this baring of truth: a slow, steady, and warm beauty that is Dubus' very own soul. We begin to see something beautiful in the brokenness of man. We begin to see that not everything is broken. There is life: and Dubus fights fort this life and meditates on this life for us. I recommend a slow - meditative - reading of this book to fully enjoy its beauty.