Senator Scott Brown’s memoir fails in presentation and style

Massachusetts Senator Scott Brown's recently released memoir, titled "Against All Odds: My Life of Hardship, Fast Breaks, and Second Chances," reveals many compelling stories that are, unfortunately, overshadowed by poor writing quality and political messages. While there is no doubt that Brown has succeeded in his life "against all odds" (he survived physical, mental and sexual abuse as a child), the memoir weakens the impact of these hardships by recounting them in a reserved and impersonal tone. Additionally, the last few chapters are entirely devoted to Brown's political campaign and victory in the 2010 U.S. Senate special election. These chapters read more like a biased political brochure than a memoir and, ultimately, overwhelm the earlier chapters.

The memoir begins promisingly, though the prologue essentially summarizes the entire 300 pages that follow. The first chapter opens with thirteen-year-old Brown getting caught shoplifting at a record store, then backtracks to briefly describe the circumstances leading up to his crime. The reader gets a clear picture of Brown's hard family life with his negligent and alcoholic single mother and absent father. However, this is one of the few smooth transitions in the novel. Most other times the memoir skips chronologically forward and backward without warning, disorienting the reader. For example, midway through the book, after going into some detail about various girlfriends during college, Brown is suddenly already married with two children, though his first meeting with his wife has not even been mentioned. He doesn't explain that he met his wife through his modeling work until the end of the memoir.

In addition to the confusing transitions, the memoir also jars the reader by interspersing passages detailing the histories of various Massachusetts towns and affirmations of Brown's great respect for John F. Kennedy with memories of childhood trauma. For example, Brown elaborates briefly on the history of Salem before suddenly switching to stories of childhood abuse. These interruptions are likely included to promote Brown's image as a senator who is knowledgeable about the state of Massachusetts and as a Republican who can relate to the Kennedys (a rather unsubtle affirmation of Brown's victorious campaign for the "Kennedy seat" that opened up after Senator Ted Kennedy died). In his last five—highly political—chapters, Brown continually affirms and reaffirms his connection to the Kennedys in order to counter the idea that the "Kennedy seat" belonged to the Democratic candidate, Martha Coakley.

The memoir overall lacks flow and a coherence in storylines. Brown simply tells the reader memories that occur to him rather than crafting a memoir. Although Brown has admirable and moving stories of personal courage and survival, such as when he defended his mother against spousal abuse or when he joined and served in the National Guard, he spends a nearly equal amount of time discussing his high scores and achievements in basketball. While basketball, as one of his passions, is certainly a large part of his life and demonstrates his drive and determination, Brown could have elaborated more on other topics. Furthermore, in his more personal memories, Brown continuously uses the phrases "I remember" and "I think." He does not gain confidence until chapter 14, in which he espouses his political views as facts.

Brown has an extraordinary story to tell of "hardship, fast breaks, and second chances." Unfortunately, the memoir does not do his story justice and instead detracts from the impact of his story on readers. While there are occasional extremely emotionally powerful passages, their raw emotion is lost amidst unnecessary anecdotes and hesitant, detached wording. The first few chapters are worth reading simply to get a sense of Brown's incredible strength through various trials and tribulations, but readers may find themselves moving on to better-written books after these initial chapters.