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Drunk, homeless, and profane
by Euan Kerr, Minnesota Public Radio
September 27, 2004

Author Nick Flynn details how he had to confront both his father's demons, and his own when his long absent dad re-appeared in his life. (Image courtesy W.W. Norton, photographer Joyce Ravid)

St. Paul, Minn. — Writer Nick Flynn's parents divorced when he was very young, in part because of his father Jonathon's drinking. Nick saw his father only once when he was growing up.

When he was 23, Nick got a job working in a Boston homeless shelter. In his new memoir, he writes about the day when his father phoned out of the blue. Jonathon demanded that Nick get across town to his apartment immediately. He told his son he had a shotgun, and he was desperate. In his memoir, Flynn writes it was the first real conversation he ever had with his father.

Flynn never saw the shotgun. But soon afterwards, he saw his father at the shelter, where he turned up looking for a room. Unwillingly, Nick Flynn was drawn back into having a relationship with the man who had deserted him.

Nick Flynn tells the story in his new book, "Another Bullshit Night in Suck City." The memoir uses one of the older Flynn's favorite profane phrases as its title. Flynn says his father's re-appearance forced him to confront some ugly realities about homelessness and his own life.

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