Leave Out the Tragic Parts, Dave Kindred
Leave Out the Tragic Parts, Dave Kindred
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Leave Out the Tragic Parts
A Grandfather's Search for a Boy Lost to Addiction

Author: Dave Kindred

Narrator: Dave Kindred

Unabridged: 6 hr 58 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Publisher: PublicAffairs

Published: 02/02/2021

Synopsis

This extraordinary investigation of the death of the author's grandson yields a powerful memoir of addiction, grief, and the stories we choose to tell our families and ourselves. Jared Kindred left his home and family at the age of eighteen, choosing to wander across America on freight train cars and live on the street. Addicted to alcohol most of his short life, and withholding the truth from many who loved him, he never found a way to survive. Through this ordeal, Dave Kindred's love for his grandson has never wavered. Leave Out the Tragic Parts is not merely a reflection on love and addiction and loss. It is a hard-won work of reportage, meticulously reconstructing the life Jared chose for himself--a life that rejected the comforts of civilization in favor of a chance to roam free. Kindred asks painful but important questions about the lies we tell to get along, and what binds families together or allows them to fracture. Jared's story ended in tragedy, but the act of telling it is an act of healing and redemption. This is an important book on how to love your family, from a great writer who has lived its lessons.

About Dave Kindred

Dave Kindred has been a columnist for the Louisville Courier-Journal, the Washington Post, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, The National Sports Daily, Sporting News, and Golf Digest. Kindred is the author of several books including Heroes, Fools and Other Dreamers: A Sportswriter's Gallery of Extraordinary People, Around the World in 18 Holes, Morning Miracle: Inside the Washington Post The Fight to Keep a Great Newspaper Alive, and Sound and Fury: Two Powerful Lives, One Fateful Friendship.

Reviews

Goodreads review by Debra on December 30, 2020

4.5 stars Dave Kindred, who worked as a sports reporter, wrote this book about the death of his grandson. It is a memoir about addiction, the stories we tell ourselves, the stories others tell us, the stories we choose to believe and grief. In his Author's note he writes "I have never written anythin......more

Goodreads review by Theresa on June 08, 2020

4.5 stars This challenged some of my stereotypes about young people on the road. I generally assume that people who abuse drugs and/or alcohol are self-medicating for something—often things like depression, bipolar disorder, or PTSD. I also assume kids on the road are running away from some type of p......more

Goodreads review by Laura on January 01, 2021

Ok, I want to say something that rarely gets told to others. This book hit home to me in many ways. Growing up alcohol was an extension of the men in my family’s hands. Always drinking and getting drunk. Some were nice drunks, some were mean but as I grew up, I swore I would never ever let that happ......more

Goodreads review by Courtney on October 11, 2023

I am not sure what I expected from this book but it was a heartfelt read about a grandfather trying to connect to a wayward grandson. Overall, it was an honest and emotional journey. The book as a whole felt like a pursuit of closure for the author in the hopes of further understanding his grandson......more

Goodreads review by Christy on September 12, 2024

This book was an amazing story of a grandfather’s extraordinary investigation after the death of his grandson. Kindred dug deep to try and understand his grandson’s choice of lifestyle. How and why did this happen. Jared left home at 18 and lived on the streets and traveled the world via trains. Kno......more

Quotes

"The title of Dave Kindred's astonishing book is precisely what he did not do. A world-class reporter used every ounce of his journalistic skills to investigate a story-the life and death of a beloved grandchild-that most of us would find daunting. But Kindred tells the story truly and with love."—David Maraniss, author of A Good American Family: The Red Scare and My Father

"Dave Kindred's Leave Out the Tragic Parts is a searing, terrifying, and brilliantly written book that, when I began reading one night, I couldn't put down. As a tireless researcher devoted to finding and writing the unflinching truth about his beloved grandson, Kindred brings us into a fascinating, foreign world. In his remarkable journey, he explores and communicates the bafflement, desperation, and pain experienced by anyone who loves a person with addiction, and he reminds us that reading others' stories can lead to understanding, compassion, and healing. Leave Out the Tragic Parts is a godsend for every grandparent, parent, friend, spouse, and child who loves a person with addiction. It is testament to the power of love. I believe that the greatest art can come from the greatest pain and love, and this book is pure art."—David Sheff, New York Times-bestselling author of Beautiful Boy

"Keening was the sound that confronted me on the other end of the line when Dave Kindred called to say his grandson Jared had been found dead of an overdose in a flop house in Philadelphia. The resounding howl of grief, anger, and bewilderment, would not abate until Kindred turned his consummate talents and unflinching gaze on Jared's all-too-brief life and unseemly death. Maybe, just maybe, if he could tell how the beautiful blond boy in a white tuxedo became a 'traveling kid' named Goblin-a wraithlike mess of tats and vodka-who hopped trains for a living, Jared's life would have some meaning and his grandpa would find some peace. Leave Out the Tragic Parts is a rageful lullaby of love and regret and a wonder to behold."—Jane Leavy, New York Times-bestselling author of The Big Fella

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