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Into That Good Night
The author recounts growing up as the son of a school superintendent in a small, dusty East Texas town from the thirties to the sixties, including his confrontations with racial inequalities, the Vietnam War, and the deaths of his parents.
- GenresNonfictionMemoir
181 pages, Hardcover
First published August 1, 1998
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Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews
March 29, 2023
The author was my freshman English teacher and as part of my reading challenge this year I put “read a book written by someone you know” on my list. I’m glad I chose this one.
Parts of this book feel like looking into a crystal ball. Things I see happening with my own parents, changes in their behaviors, etc. are all reflected back to me in his words.
One line resonates with me especially: “Being misplaced by a parent was a hard thing, but an even harder one was having to watch someone who had always been so resolutely in charge of things suddenly lose that control, and drift, now in currents not of his planning, or even of his knowledge.” This was true of watching my grandmother in her final years as well.
I remember seeing a difference in personality in Mr Rozelle in class as compared to the European trip I took with a school group for which he was a sponsor. Because of the passage where he talks about his Dad’s admonition to not try to be a parent or a buddy to his students but just to teach them, this all makes sense to me now.
This book is an excellent read. I highly recommend it to anyone with aging parents or grandparents. Or anyone who had Mr. Rozelle as a teacher or coach.
Parts of this book feel like looking into a crystal ball. Things I see happening with my own parents, changes in their behaviors, etc. are all reflected back to me in his words.
One line resonates with me especially: “Being misplaced by a parent was a hard thing, but an even harder one was having to watch someone who had always been so resolutely in charge of things suddenly lose that control, and drift, now in currents not of his planning, or even of his knowledge.” This was true of watching my grandmother in her final years as well.
I remember seeing a difference in personality in Mr Rozelle in class as compared to the European trip I took with a school group for which he was a sponsor. Because of the passage where he talks about his Dad’s admonition to not try to be a parent or a buddy to his students but just to teach them, this all makes sense to me now.
This book is an excellent read. I highly recommend it to anyone with aging parents or grandparents. Or anyone who had Mr. Rozelle as a teacher or coach.
May 7, 2008
The world changes around us, but our memories are like dynamic imprints- preserved on a mysterious gossamer fabric in the mind. But if that fabric is disturbed by trauma or disease, memory can dissolve into wisps of smoke that filter through the searching grasp of our thoughts, and leave nothing but a residue of disconnected feelings and emotions.
In his memoir,Into That Good Night Ron Rozelle illustrates that which is so difficult to explain, the tapestry of memory, and how it's gradual unraveling from the affects of Alzheimer's disease impacts the relationships of a father and son. However, the book is not so much about memory lost, as much as it is about memory found.
Rozelle's own recollections of his journey through time are as touching and heartbreaking as the scenes depicting the gradual loss of his father's keen mind. Of particular note is Rozelle's account of racial issues in the early 1960's. This facet of the narrative strikes it's first bitter cord in a seemingly causal, but emotionally frustrating instance in the author's early years and interlaces throughout the story. The slow acceptance of integration in the small, East Texas town of Oakwood, where his father was Superintendant of Schools, appears to be a separate theme. But it honestly depicts how a potentially damaging culture shock was cushioned by one stoic, tolerant, principled man and only through memory is this made clear. Lester Rozelle's almost invisible methodic approach to the situation left not even a ripple in a process that could easily have left a wide gulf of ignorance and confusion, and had he been anything less than the man he was, then his son's memory of the events would have been tragically different.
Even as the author describes the slow progression into dementia, the static parts of his father's life- his fastidious manners, his genial, good-natured acceptance of even the most tragic circumstances, remain intact. At the end of the book you are aware, that even a quiet, humble life well lived is worthy of recollection and honor.
This is a powerful, well written memoir and after reading it, I am left with a bittersweet impression: the people and situations described within the pages are now part of my memory, and considering the subject matter, it is a sobering thought.
Highly recommended for anyone who is dealing with the loss of one or both parents, or the slow theft of cognizance by Alzheimer’s disease.
In his memoir,Into That Good Night Ron Rozelle illustrates that which is so difficult to explain, the tapestry of memory, and how it's gradual unraveling from the affects of Alzheimer's disease impacts the relationships of a father and son. However, the book is not so much about memory lost, as much as it is about memory found.
Rozelle's own recollections of his journey through time are as touching and heartbreaking as the scenes depicting the gradual loss of his father's keen mind. Of particular note is Rozelle's account of racial issues in the early 1960's. This facet of the narrative strikes it's first bitter cord in a seemingly causal, but emotionally frustrating instance in the author's early years and interlaces throughout the story. The slow acceptance of integration in the small, East Texas town of Oakwood, where his father was Superintendant of Schools, appears to be a separate theme. But it honestly depicts how a potentially damaging culture shock was cushioned by one stoic, tolerant, principled man and only through memory is this made clear. Lester Rozelle's almost invisible methodic approach to the situation left not even a ripple in a process that could easily have left a wide gulf of ignorance and confusion, and had he been anything less than the man he was, then his son's memory of the events would have been tragically different.
Even as the author describes the slow progression into dementia, the static parts of his father's life- his fastidious manners, his genial, good-natured acceptance of even the most tragic circumstances, remain intact. At the end of the book you are aware, that even a quiet, humble life well lived is worthy of recollection and honor.
This is a powerful, well written memoir and after reading it, I am left with a bittersweet impression: the people and situations described within the pages are now part of my memory, and considering the subject matter, it is a sobering thought.
Highly recommended for anyone who is dealing with the loss of one or both parents, or the slow theft of cognizance by Alzheimer’s disease.
October 3, 2007
Begins a little slow, but a really touching account of what a person goes through when a family member is diagnosed with Alzheimer's.
October 9, 2007
this author was my senior english teacher. that's what made me buy his book, but i am so glad i did.
October 16, 2019
A very sad but outstanding memoir. I knew going in it was not going to end nice all around. But then, it did end the way it should have. A couple of surprises, but it was probably the best story of a family I've read in several years. Though neither of my parents had even dementia, let alone Alzheimer's, there were several similarities with my family and growing up in SW Pennsylvania versus East Texas. But have the hankies ready.
July 27, 2023
An amalgamation of every good-hearted, small-town Texas dad, grandpa, teacher, and friend. Reading this felt like watching the parts of my grandpa’s life I wasn’t witness to, and, in a bittersweet way, keeps his memory slightly more vivid in my mind.
November 20, 2025
Well if that wasn’t written beautifully…yes…I cried…many many times.
March 20, 2008
I picked up a copy of Into That Good Night because I previously read a book Ron Rozelle co-authored with Jim Willett called Warden: Prison Life and Death from the Inside Out. I am also about to attend a seminar by Ron Rozelle through Fort Bend Writers Guild (Houston area). I knew that Into That Good Night dealt in part with Mr. Rozelle’s father’s Alzheimers. My mother also suffers the beginning stages of Alzheimers so therein lay another reason for me to read the book.
More than anything else, this book is the story of Ron Rozelle’s good fortune in growing up with a father of remarkable devotion to his calling as Superintendent of Schools for the East Texas town of Oakwood from the 1930s to the 1960s. Lester Rozelle apparently showed the same kind of devotion to the care and up-bringing of his children. The details of the lives of the Rozelle family are lovingly written but with attention to the unpleasantness of family life along with the better side we’d all prefer to remember.
I found the book movingly written and exquisite in the detail of the times and the places it covers. I can imagine that this was certainly a labor of love for the author and it proves to be a fitting memorial for a good man, Lester Rozelle.
I couldn’t be more pleased that I read this book.
More than anything else, this book is the story of Ron Rozelle’s good fortune in growing up with a father of remarkable devotion to his calling as Superintendent of Schools for the East Texas town of Oakwood from the 1930s to the 1960s. Lester Rozelle apparently showed the same kind of devotion to the care and up-bringing of his children. The details of the lives of the Rozelle family are lovingly written but with attention to the unpleasantness of family life along with the better side we’d all prefer to remember.
I found the book movingly written and exquisite in the detail of the times and the places it covers. I can imagine that this was certainly a labor of love for the author and it proves to be a fitting memorial for a good man, Lester Rozelle.
I couldn’t be more pleased that I read this book.
July 11, 2010
This was quite good in a short, simple kind of way. I'm not sure I would've liked it as much were I not from Texas, but in general it was a solid and touching memoir. Although the main focus of the book was on Oakwood, this was the first time I've read anything partially set in Lake Jackson, where I lived briefly, and that was nice to see. I liked Rozelle's depiction of small Texas towns without going too much into detail and letting the ambiance speak for itself. I like how he went back and forth between the past and the "present" and for a memoir about Alzheimer's, it was really quite heartbreaking at times. It made me think about what I would do and how I would feel if my parents were to fall victim in the next couple decades. There was also a lot of socio-policital background conveyed without Rozelle giving his own commentary, because that wasn't what the book was about.
Grade: B+
Grade: B+
July 16, 2017
Wonderful tribute to a dad, a man who "lived the contradictions". The author is a high school teacher who lives in Lake Jackson, just south of me. I strongly recommend this book.
Reread: I read this memoir again and loved it just as much. An admirable man, a father, a husband, a teacher, a superintendent.
Reread: I read this memoir again and loved it just as much. An admirable man, a father, a husband, a teacher, a superintendent.
August 18, 2008
A biography of the author from a young man through adulthood and the trials and tribulations of first the death of his mother and then the devastating illness of dementia suffered by his father. A truly wonderful, touching book.
June 17, 2009
A short read set believably in East Texas;good example of setting in a literary work. The main story of dealing with a parent succumbing to Alzheimers was poignant. It had a touching reminiscence at the end between the narrator and father that worked really well as a closing chapter.
Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews