I was three and a half the first time my dad told me we had to get rid of my mother. On that bitter cold morning in February, he jumed up from the table after eating his usual eggs, grits, and bacon and threw on his coat. Lonnie, Sam, and I finished our cornflakes long before he sat down. 

“Thelma Lou, get David ready,” he told my mother. His deep voice filled our tiny house. “He and I are going for a ride.”

Mom lurched into the living room with that twitchy look she got whenever Dad asked her to do something. I sat cross-legged on the floor watching “The Little Rascals” as she jerked back and forth in front of me like a broken wind-up toy. “Get ready, David!” she shrieked.

— David Crow, Ch. 1, p.1.

Please join us to discuss The Pale Faced-Lie, by David Crow; in this painful, powerful, and award-winning memoir (Sandra Jonas Publishing, 2019), the author recounts how his abusive, violent, and criminal father forces him into cruel and illegal actions — forging an extradoridnary tale of family, survival, hope, and forgiveness. David escapes from his traumatic childhood in Arizona and New Mexico; gains an education; and becomes a successful lobbyist in Washington, D.C.

“Growing up on the Navajo Indian Reservation, David Crow and his three siblings idolized their dad, a self-taught Cherokee who loved to tell his children about his World War II feats. But as time passed, David discovered the other side of Thurston Crow, the ex-con with his own code of ethics that justified cruelty, violence, lies—even murder. Intimidating David with beatings, Thurston coerced his son into doing his criminal bidding. David’s mom, too mentally ill to care for her children, couldn’t protect him.

Through sheer determination, David managed to get into college and achieve professional success. When he finally found the courage to refuse his father’s criminal demands, he unwittingly triggered a plot of revenge that would force him into a deadly showdown with Thurston Crow. David would have only twenty-four hours to outsmart his father—the brilliant, psychotic man who bragged that the three years he spent in the notorious San Quentin State Prison had been the easiest time of his life.” – book description

Over the years David Crow has mentored hundreds of college interns, voluntered for Save the Children, and participated in the Big Brothers Big Sisters program.

Fall Book Club is co-sponsored by the Graduate Writing Center. It meets once a month throughout the semester, with a program for three books. It is open to all students and staff, and the first eight people to rsvp will receive a free copy.

Where: 305 Russell