Characters Including Me

P.J. Kemp was a journalist living in Brigham, Quebec.

This is the sort of autobiography a man may write to pass around to his immediate family. There is a very businesslike attention to the chronicling of events in Drysdale’s own life, and sketchily of the lives of his acquaintances. His birth, his childhood in Nova Scotia, his education, marriage, child, business, vacation trips, family illnesses — it’s all there for any Drysdale relative to read and enjoy. But for the average reader, Drysdale does not bring his “characters” alive sufficiently to provide either the stimulation or the entertainment that would make Characters Including Me more than a fancy version of mimeographed (or, increasingly, computer printed) Christmas letters. The treatment is just too insular to appeal to a broad range of readers.