Readers familiar with Sallie Bingham's 1989 memoir, Passion and
Prejudice, will remember her provocative chronicle of the Bingham
family saga, cited by Gloria Steinem as "a major step toward feminist
change and democracy."
In Little Brother, she reflects on just one of her siblings: the
youngest son Jonathan and his all-too brief life. The book begins with a
count she calls her "dreadful list" of nine close relatives who died by
accident, suicide, overdose, exposure to the elements, and
electrocution, all before the age of 50. Jonathan was only twenty-two
years old when he climbed a pole, hoping to rig up some lighting for a
barn party and, by some fluke, grabbed a live wire. But even before his
fatal fall to the ground, the boy suffered from insecurity, isolation,
and difficulty relating to his large family. Bingham draws from archived
material, chief among them the young man's journal and letters. She
writes his short history with obvious affection and tenderness, along
with more than a dash of survival guilt. Little Brother is a moving
and honest new work.