Requiem, Mass

I am not sure why but I have a very soft spot for John Dufresne and his writing. I've read Louisiana Power and Light and Love Warps the Mind a Little and his writing never fails to tickle me (in Requiem Mass one of the patients in a pysch ward wears a t-shirt that says "I'm not a gynecologist but I'll take a look.")
A synopsis of Love Warps the Mind a Little from the publisher:
"Ever since Lafayette Proulx quit his day job, left his wife, hauled his dog and his Royal portable across town to Judi Dubey’s house, and set out at last to be a fiction writer, his life has been a sordid mess. Judi’s exotically dysfunctional family isn’t all to blame. Sure, the murders are disconcerting. And, yes, Judi’s father’s gone off the deep end. Worse are the vicious rejection letters Laf gets from editors. To top it off, Laf’s falling for Judi at the same time he’s nettled with guilt, is in marriage counseling with his wife, and is writing his long-hoped-for novel. When Judi is diagnosed with stage IV cancer, they both struggle to find the memory that will comfort, the truth that will redeem in a world where everyone suffers some kind of love disorder. John Dufresne, called “a highly readable Faulkner,” will once again take the literary world by storm with this new tragicomic tale."
You get the picture. Anyway Requiem Mass was not his best effort, a brother and a sister growing up with a mentally ill mother and a truck driver father who has a family at every truck stop. The boy grows up to be a writer and this is his memoir which he had started writing as fiction. It made me giggle but it never resonated like Love did. At best it just reminds us how children, no matter how abysmal their parents are, always love their parents.