Synopses & Reviews
This memoir is about Clancy Sigal's intense attachment to his fast-talking, redhaired, sexy, unwed mother Jennie, a firebrand union organizer, and his roaring Oedipal rivalry with his mostly absent father Leo who carries a gun to social occasions. In the wide-open, violent Chicago of the Depression and war years, Jennie, in her Cuban heels and flaming lipstick, is a single mother on welfare trying to raise a wild rebellious son in a twilight world between law and lawlessness. She is defiant, vulnerable, sexually alive, high stepping, man-loving, woman-friendly, wisecracking fearlessly facing down hostile scabs armed with shotguns and clubs. Along with the portrait of Jennie, this book tells a rollicking, profane, and gritty tale of bottom-feeding street life, race riots, riding the rails, and what happens when a gang boy is mistakenly sent to an all-girls' high school.
Synopsis
This memoir is about Clancy Sigal's boyhood in Depression-era Chicago, then James Farrell and Nelson Algren territory. The author recounts his intense relationship with his mother Jennie, a sometime firebrand union organizer, and his roaring Oedipal rivalry with his mostly absent father Leo.
Jennie is a single mother on welfare trying to raise a wild rebellious son in a twilight world between law and lawlessness. She is defiant, vulnerable, sexually alive, high stepping, man-loving, woman-friendly, wisecracking, fearlessly facing down hostile scabs armed with shotguns and clubs. Along with the portrait of Jennie, this book tells a rollicking, profane and gritty tale of life on the streets, of stickball, riding the rails, delinquency, gangs, and fights.
About the Author
Clancy Sigal has published four novels, most recently THE SECRET DEFECTOR. He was a Natinoal Book Award runnerup, and was principal screenwriter for the 2002 film FRIDA. He is a reporter and ex-BBC correspondent who has covered everything from the Prohibition-era Lindbergh baby kidnapping through the Vietnam War to 9/11. A Hollywood blacklistee, he was involved in the Sixties civil rights movement in Georgia; worked closely in London with the charismatic "anti psychiatrist" Dr. R. D. Laing; and knew Jimmy Hoffa. He is a professor emeritus at University of Southern California's Annenberg School of Communication. He lives in Los Angeles.