Tonight is the first event for the new book, and I've spent most of the afternoon at home with curlers in my hair and cucumber circles on the eyes...
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My mom will tell me "I told you so", but I liked the book. It took me awhile to get into it, but then I sort of lost all the generational thing going on between my and my parents and found myself actually caught up in a great trip back to a generation I've only seen portrayed in "drag", like old Lucy reruns et cetera.
Heath Street was a blast -- made me want to take the time to ask my parents a few questions about the Red Scare, the Cold War, the sex and gender biases the book paints so well. I see a lot of similes to the present day and after I finished the book I handed it off to my roommate who doesn't have a clue where he's at or where he came from. I think people who read Heath Street will start with one attitude about the Fifties and their parents world and come away with a whole new appreciation of what it took to get us where we are today -- in another mess, but it's important to know what culture shift was responsible for the attitudes and liberties we are defending today.
The humour is a blast too -- making me laugh at corny people with corny jokes was quite a surprise so don't think this book is only for Boomers. It's not. You could do a thesis on the themes and character studies in Heath St. By the last page, it had me totally won over. And the writing is smooth and natural and sounhds like genuine NW. I rate it a 5 because it takes a really absorbing, good book that can laugh with brains to get my top vote.
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Heath Street Stories: A Look Back at 1950's Innocence in Suburban America by Gehla S Knight
JJNealy, August 1, 2006
My mom will tell me "I told you so", but I liked the book. It took me awhile to get into it, but then I sort of lost all the generational thing going on between my and my parents and found myself actually caught up in a great trip back to a generation I've only seen portrayed in "drag", like old Lucy reruns et cetera.Heath Street was a blast -- made me want to take the time to ask my parents a few questions about the Red Scare, the Cold War, the sex and gender biases the book paints so well. I see a lot of similes to the present day and after I finished the book I handed it off to my roommate who doesn't have a clue where he's at or where he came from. I think people who read Heath Street will start with one attitude about the Fifties and their parents world and come away with a whole new appreciation of what it took to get us where we are today -- in another mess, but it's important to know what culture shift was responsible for the attitudes and liberties we are defending today.
The humour is a blast too -- making me laugh at corny people with corny jokes was quite a surprise so don't think this book is only for Boomers. It's not. You could do a thesis on the themes and character studies in Heath St. By the last page, it had me totally won over. And the writing is smooth and natural and sounhds like genuine NW. I rate it a 5 because it takes a really absorbing, good book that can laugh with brains to get my top vote.
(3 of 5 readers found this comment helpful)