Synopses & Reviews
If
memoirabilia were a word, it would perfectly describe
O the Clear Moment. In this enormously appealing implied autobiography, Ed McClanahan has assembled a gathering of what he calls "coming-of-age to coming-of-old-age" stories that are both quirky and cutting, hilarious and lyrical, all told in the inimitable voice of one of his generation's best southern chroniclers of American life.
McClanahan launches his tale in 1950, the year he turned seventeen and had his Personal Best Great Moment — one that involved Lucky Strikes, a Tony Curtis forelock, a pretty girl named Bernice, a pair of Kentucky high school basketball hotshots named Bobby One and Bobby Two, and several raw eggs. From there, McClanahan is off and running, describing characters from his eventful life with affectionate and precise detail. There's the summer he spends on a road crew in Yosemite National Park, striving (with ever-decreasing degrees of success) to be faithful to his college sweetheart back home. There's the 1969 peace demonstration at Stanford University that was less a revolution than a traffic jam. There's the McClanavan — the '68 VW Microbus that took McClanahan and his new bride on a 14,000-mile trek in search of honky-tonks — and the old white whale of a '65 Chevy van named Moldy Dick that helped to bring them home again.
Like escapees from the cover of the Saturday Evening Post, McClanahan and his stories come alive as American souvenirs, enchanting readers with his signature prose the Cleveland Plain Dealer says has a bittersweet, almost wistful current trickling just beneath the surface...adding texture, continuity, and poignancy to his reminiscences without diminishing their gently humorous gifts.
Synopsis
In this enormously appealing "implied autobiography," McClanahan has assembled a gathering of stories that are both quirky and cutting, hilarious and lyrical, all told in the inimitable voice of one of his generation's best southern chroniclers of American life.
Synopsis
In this enormously appealing "implied autobiography," Merry Prankster Ed McClanahan has assembled a gathering of what he calls "coming-of-age to coming-of-old-age" stories that are both quirky and cutting, hilarious and lyrical, all told in the inimitable voice of one of his generation's best southern chroniclers of American life.
The tale begins in 1950, the year he turned 17 — and, from there, McClanahan is off and running, describing characters from his eventful life with affectionate and precise detail. There's the summer he spends on a road crew in Yosemite National Park, striving (with ever-decreasing degrees of success) to be faithful to his college sweetheart back home. There's the McClanavan — the '68 VW Microbus that took McClanahan and his new bride on a 14,000-mile trek in search of honky-tonks. There's the 1969 "peace" demonstration at Stanford University that was less a revolution than a traffic jam. McClanahan and his stories come alive as American souvenirs, enchanting readers with his signature prose in this stunning piece of "memoirabilia."
About the Author
Ed McClanahan is the author of several books, and his writing has appeared in Esquire, Rolling Stone, and Playboy. McClanahan has taught English and creative writing at Oregon State University, Stanford University, the University of Montana, and the University of Kentucky. He and his wife live in Lexington, Kentucky.