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elisabeth1st's review against another edition
3.0
I think I learned a lot about growing up in poverty and with unhelpful parents. A sad yet uplifting memoir. I'll read his other books.
sharonfalduto's review against another edition
A memoir about the author's youth in Philadelphia, growing up with an abusive father and attending Catholic schools. Somewhat dour but still interesting, with more than the usual amount of words I had to look up to find out what they meant.
irinam's review against another edition
4.0
I liked this book, I really did. However, while style and humour were my cup of tea, the story itself was hard to swallow. Trying to paint horrendous childhood with funny colours was truly painful. I would like to compare it to massacre scene from some movie that has cheerful children's song playing in the background. Sounds sweet but reality is excruciating.
liloud0626's review against another edition
3.0
This had been on my TBR list for so long, I was thrilled to finally find it at our library. Joe Queenan is eloquent and writes with humor and skill.
However ...
he would do well to find a better editor. He seems to be in love with the sound of his own voice. Yes, this is a memoir, but he didn't need to be quite so verbose at every turn. And for someone who insists throughout the book that he had written his father off, didn't care, et cetera, he sure did allow his father to assume an enormous presence in his book, and dare I say it, his life.
However ...
he would do well to find a better editor. He seems to be in love with the sound of his own voice. Yes, this is a memoir, but he didn't need to be quite so verbose at every turn. And for someone who insists throughout the book that he had written his father off, didn't care, et cetera, he sure did allow his father to assume an enormous presence in his book, and dare I say it, his life.
satyridae's review against another edition
3.0
Not unlike Queenan, I read my way into the middle class. I am familiar with a lot of the prejudices and knee-jerk attitudes he describes. I was much, much luckier than he, inasmuch as both my parents loved me and did their level best for me. Like him, I adore the English language in all its fearsome glory, and endeavor to use it in a manner befitting its incandescent variety.
Unlike Queenan, I'm not an unreconstructed, condescending prick.
This memoir was grueling. The horror that was Queenan's childhood is limned here in letters of fire. The reaction to that childhood is still happening, and it's uncomfortable to witness. There's enough backlash and bitterness to last several lifetimes here- and not without justification. His dad was a right bastard, make no mistake about it. Queenan's claims to have moved beyond his childhood ring hollow in the face of the evidence presented here, though. I think he's doing well to have merely survived.
Unlike Queenan, I'm not an unreconstructed, condescending prick.
This memoir was grueling. The horror that was Queenan's childhood is limned here in letters of fire. The reaction to that childhood is still happening, and it's uncomfortable to witness. There's enough backlash and bitterness to last several lifetimes here- and not without justification. His dad was a right bastard, make no mistake about it. Queenan's claims to have moved beyond his childhood ring hollow in the face of the evidence presented here, though. I think he's doing well to have merely survived.
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