Author Joe Gilliland blends personal tribulations with general remarks about the stretched racial landscapes of the times, the forestalling “army way” of shaping the individual, and the educational process that is as beguiling as it often proves maddening. As a result, his memoir carries a confessional tone, one silently engaged with the mind. As Gilliland personalizes the bits of awareness reaped from the contradictory comments he overhears, his own understanding of social mechanisms  -  and injustices – is sharpened. The minute detail threaded into his account, though overpowering at times, may therefore be a natural by-product of a fledgling mind. The notion of “education by irritation”, picked up in the classroom of one of the author’s most influential teachers, encompasses both the length and the depth of the memoir. Friction exists on every level, from his mother’s gendered assertions to the absurdities faced in the army. It makes sense, then, that the impulse to rethink dogmas is at the helm of the narrative.

Every step made in life is seen as a form of schooling. The army, too, is presented as an educational institution; one that often ridicules its own methods. The author’s account of having his teeth pulled is particularly amusing, though tinged with a bitterness that persists. A TEACHER’S TALE: A Memoir serves as a record of passing connections, a testament to the erratic pulse of friendship. And yet, the camaraderie in the army, draped in communal hunger, low morale, and subpar living conditions, manages to preserve the work’s pacifying tone. Perhaps the most notable relationship depicted by Gilliland, though, is the one he shares with the written word. Literature, which establishes itself as an early source of vigor, is entangled with both outward duty and the self, bridging the gap between clusters of humanity. Gilliland pays sincere attention to every work, every author who nudged him onto the path of his chosen profession. For those readers who rejoice in the timeless appeal of writing, this is a sort of benediction. For others, this passion may prove foreign and, thus, alienating.

Reading is an almost physical entity in the army, as it’s presented as the main activity used to quell moments of passivity. At least in Gilliland’s experience, well-educated men donning army uniforms were a familiar sight. What adds to this image is the humor with which the author writes. Though it leaves the reader somewhat removed from the events’ emotional underbelly, it equally alleviates their aggression. Cultural clashes with complex notions, such as Korean-Japanese relations and the imprint of American activity in Japan, appear more clement, and therefore more engaging for the modern reader. What carries the human element to the forefront are the tales from inside the author’s classroom. His first steps in teaching, and the showbiz feature of his vocation, are particularly entertaining.

There is perhaps a little too much focus on peripheral figures, which pushes the reader to feel the staggering length of the memoir more keenly at times. But as an account of the shifting planes of a portioned lifespan, A TEACHER’S TALE: A Memoir is a noteworthy endeavor.

In A TEACHER’S TALE: A Memoir, Joe Gilliland unfurls an odyssey of human experience. From the climax of adolescence fitted into his army days, to the pursuit of a lifelong education on the streets of New York and overseas, the author threads every recollection with a physical sensitivity that surpasses both time and adversity.

~Neil Czeszejko for IndieReader