A Fictional Memoir
by
I was born on the hood of a Studebaker . . .
So begins the story of Boy, coming of age in a small town in the 1960s. From trying to understand the Cold War, to first kisses and the moon landing, he struggles to make sense of his world. With his exceptional memory, he chronicles the indignities of growing up—often with hilarious results—all while trying to assert some independence at the same time as supporting his mother through her struggles to keep the family going.
But, as childhood makes way for adolescence, a car that looks an awful lot like the long-lost Studebaker turns everything on its head.
After what she thought was one of her last contractions, my mother assumed we weren’t going to make it to the hospital on time. She told my father to stop the car in the shade of one of the large maple trees that lined both sides of the suburban street. Despite being late October, most of the trees still retained their leaves, so they looked like giant yellow and orange parasols reaching out to touch each other above the narrow road.
READ MOREI’m told that Father watched in horror as Mother hauled herself out of the confines of the car’s interior, struggled onto the hood, hiked up her skirt, and lay on her back, warmed by the engine, her head supported by the incline of the windshield. When another contraction arrived, my mother let out a scream, punctuated by several obscenities aimed squarely at my father for having done this to her. My father was both terrified and mortified—terrified that she and I would come to some harm since he had no idea what to do, and mortified that his wife was splayed on the car, screaming swear words.
Being the late 1950s, most men dutifully trudged off to thunderous factories or nondescript offices where they apparently smoked copious numbers of cigarettes and drank a fair bit of Scotch, while most of the women stayed home to look after the house and kids. So, it wasn’t long before a woman appeared in almost every doorway up and down the block.
COLLAPSE"I was struck by how beautifully it captures the humor and heartache of growing up in mid-century America. The way Boy tries to make sense of the world from the Cold War to first love feels both nostalgic and timeless. Your blend of wry humour and emotional truth gives the book a voice that stays with you long after the last page."
