Sam Freedman: “Who He Is”

Author, New York Times columnist, and dedicated son Mr. Sam Freedman appeared at Baruch College last week for a talk back about his historical biography Who She Was. The book is a factual rendering of his mother’s life: raw, unpretentious, and heartbreaking.
She grew up in the South Bronx’s Jewish ghetto, and lived a very hard life. She was obliged to support her family from a very young age, and only found solace in her friends and lovers. Her greatest aspiration was to attend college; however, her family’s demand to help defray the cost of living excluded this from her future. Freedman writes of this as his mother’s catharsis, after which all seems to deteriorate.
He calls it a form of penance, by which he can repent for many years of misunderstanding. Like many young people, Freedman saw his mother as a burden. Her final visit to his college dorm was a mere annoyance to him as he tried to forget his “degenerate and dissident mother.” Decades after her death he sought to recompense through his book.
“These things may wax and wane,” he said, “[but] there’s nothing time bound to the 1930’s and this book.” The truth is Who She Was is a universal biography about the struggles of “growing up in an impoverished household” and dealing with the sins of our fathers (or mothers, in this case.) Frequently Freedman would cite his mother’s “zest for life,” her improvident philandering with the catholic boy Charlie. His unidealization and unwavering candor when writing Who She Was set it apart from other biographical books.
It is almost impossible not to connect with Freedman’s account. Any reader, Jewish or Hindu, rich or poor, male or female, can find some semblance of recognition in his book.