A Night Scavenger - Herbert Gold
Herbert Gold writes a little memoir on his mid 1970s divorce in San Francisco. It's really about his reaction to it. His grief, anger, frustration, loneliness, and distracted self are the things he shows us.
I have been divorced, a couple of times, but in each of them, I was the one requesting the separation. Here, the former Mrs. Gold decides one day that she is trapped by her daughter and twin sons and she needs to divorce something. Her husband is the easiest one to part with. After all, you can't divorce your children.
Mr. Gold describes a series of vignettes after this, started by his ex-wife seemingly able to seduce him at will, until she brings up her current lover. It's ludicrous and purely 70s. Movies and sitcoms centered on this sort of liberated sexual behavior. Love, American Style, anyone?
He has some funny moments driving, and an amusing interaction with a son.
The essay hits its stride however, when Mr. Gold hits the streets, walking in any of the four cardinal directions.
The attempted mugging and subsequent failure with the police and the visits to cafes that never close, and, especially his run-in with the stetson wearing pimp are perfectly captured. I can relate to his walking around on his own, in parts of the city that he wouldn't normally be in, indeed never at these night hours, and being accosted either for money or sex, watching an America unfold that most of us never see.
It's funny and fascinating. A quick thoroughly enjoyable read. Mr. Gold's depression seen at this great distance in time can be more easily examined dispassionately. It's an entertaining portrait of dealing with divorce.
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