No Permanent Scars reads how creative nonfiction should read: Like fiction. Like nonfiction. Like memoir. Like humor. Like literature. Like life. It's about childhood, adulthood, the neighborhood and what it means to be a kid, a parent, a teacher, a human. Michael Hemery illuminates an honest working-class existence, offering both the sober realities of class discrimination and the humor and love of family. Intertwined with serious issues such as suicide, alcoholism, abuse, religion, and immigration, Hemery also endures a painfully slow and often naive coming of age (he once mistook an...

Our stories all end the same way; the difference is how we get there.

Many accepted the Ice Bucket Challenge to raise money for ALS, but the real challenge of Lou Gehrig's Disease begins the moment you or someone you love is diagnosed with this terminal illness.

Michael Hemery's memoir follows his father's last day alive, interwoven with stories of his childhood and his father's two-year decline. So We Go not only delves into the world of ALS, euthanasia and the medical community's abandonment, but also offers a narrative of hope--and even laughter--as the Hemerys...

Our stories all end the same way; the difference is how we get there.

Many accepted the Ice Bucket Challenge to raise money for ALS, but the real challenge of Lou Gehrig's Disease begins the moment you or someone you love is diagnosed with this terminal illness.

Michael Hemery's memoir follows his father's last day alive, interwoven with stories of his childhood and his father's two-year decline. So We Go not only delves into the world of ALS, euthanasia and the medical community's abandonment, but also offers a narrative of hope--and even...