Inside the Mind of Tom McAllister: Unraveling 42 Years of Life’s Most Impossible Moments
“I know when I was 13 I rolled my eyes at that letter, and I never envisioned this version of me, 25 years later, fatherless for most of them, finding it and trying not to cry in front of my wife, trying to turn it into a joke, somehow.”
McAllister doesn’t shy away from how teenagers can be casually racist and cruel and develop bad habits that haunt them later in life. As I read these early essays, I thought about my eight-year-old son making his way through an imperfect world and the impact of outside influences. Since my son was born, I’ve been collecting books for him that I hope he will read when he’s older—books that have brought me a greater understanding of myself and the world, or simply the thrill of reading something delightful. It All Felt Impossible will be added to that list. To tell my son what McAllister shows: it is impossible to be perfect; you will make mistakes and do stupid things, but you can’t let it make you blind to the good in yourself and the world.