Even So
David D. Coster
Ice Cube Press, 2024

This coming-of-age memoir centered on the author’s youth growing up in a family of ten. Nostalgic reminiscences of life on the farm soon cede place to considerable darkness, as death and abuse enter the picture. Coster’s father, a talented, cruel, driven man who literally tilts at windmills, and his mother, isolated by otherworldly Pentecostal beliefs as she negotiates multiple childbirths, are described with frankness and a remarkable lack of bitterness. As a young gay man fighting to acquire an education (he later became a surgeon), David Coster has a fascinating story to tell. The latter chapters, in particular, are full of riveting moments, and Even So is an impressive debut.