Scan barcode
ginkgotree's review against another edition
3.0
I enjoy stories about the Depression, and Beverly Cleary's memoir was particularly enjoyable for that reason. This book lacks the humor of her children's fiction, but you can certainly see traces of Ramona Quimby in the young Beverly. I'm not sure who the audience is intended to be; the prose is very simple, but some of the subject matter is slightly mature, and the book would probably be boring for children.
carriealibrarian's review against another edition
3.0
When Beverly tells her mother that she has a mouth like a buttonhole, I laughed out loud. Good ole Beverly.
satyridae's review against another edition
3.0
I enjoyed this book but I didn't love it. I found the earlier portions of Cleary's life far more interesting (and easier to read about) than her late teens. There is a lot of weirdness around her relationship with her mother, and it didn't feel like she really explained it very well. I wonder if it's because her books are loved by so many kids, maybe she worried about writing too much discomfiting stuff about her mom. I walked away from this book wanting either more or less, I don't know for sure which.
emilygigs's review against another edition
3.0
Worth reading for the discovery that fondly remembered incidents from the Ramona Quimby books were based on Beverly Cleary's own childhood, as well as a fascinating look at city vs. rural life during the Depression. Charming.
bookishheather's review against another edition
5.0
When I was growing up in Portland, OR, Beverly Cleary was seen as a hometown hero. It was common knowledge that the Ramona universe was set in our fair city. In fact, it was not until college I realized just how widespread her fame was.
It probably shouldn't have been such a surprise to me then that this book knocked my socks off. I mean, think about it, me: this book is a memoir. She was born in Oregon and spent much of her childhood in Portland. And yet somehow, even though I was interested in the book in 1996 when it was first published, I eventually failed to remember all the reasons I could like it. It gently eroded from my memory until I came across a copy recently for $2 at a thrift shop.
It's not just the regional topics that make me love the book so much, but the execution thereof. Obviously she is a skilled writer, and this book is full of lovely, poignant passages. Cleary describes a simple childhood in the Willamette Valley and the challenges her parents faced. One paragraph about the Willamette Valley weather and the view from the family's farmhouse nails the location perfectly.
Cleary reminisces about Portland in its better days, in great detail. (In fact, she used a couple of quirky phrases I used to hear all the time, but realized I haven't even uttered myself in years. A sad realization about the city's more recent transformation.) I found a lot of value in reading a literary sketch of Portland during the Great Depression, and getting to see just how things were impacting normal middle-class families. Since my family is going through some difficult financial times, that material was particularly interesting. And speaking of families, she covers her strained relationship with her mother, which I wouldn't have expected to get discussed quite so frankly in a memoir like this.
If that wasn't enough, there were some very beautiful passages about how she discovered the building blocks that would make her the nationally known author she is today. She makes it clear through some very specific references that she was one of her books' main characters in her youth.
Often I feel a weird kinship to Beverly Cleary, like she is my karmic grandmother. Not only does she look similar to my grandmother, but she has a deep connection to Oregon that I don't feel others in my family have. She was born here, and being in Oregon is all she knew for a very long time. Her attention to detail echoes mine, and her humor never fails to make me laugh, even as an adult. She's like the grandmother that just gets you. Except I suspect every child who read her books growing up might say the same...
If you were born in the Willamette Valley or Portland, if you'd like to get a sense of an Oregon past, definitely give this a read.
It probably shouldn't have been such a surprise to me then that this book knocked my socks off. I mean, think about it, me: this book is a memoir. She was born in Oregon and spent much of her childhood in Portland. And yet somehow, even though I was interested in the book in 1996 when it was first published, I eventually failed to remember all the reasons I could like it. It gently eroded from my memory until I came across a copy recently for $2 at a thrift shop.
It's not just the regional topics that make me love the book so much, but the execution thereof. Obviously she is a skilled writer, and this book is full of lovely, poignant passages. Cleary describes a simple childhood in the Willamette Valley and the challenges her parents faced. One paragraph about the Willamette Valley weather and the view from the family's farmhouse nails the location perfectly.
Cleary reminisces about Portland in its better days, in great detail. (In fact, she used a couple of quirky phrases I used to hear all the time, but realized I haven't even uttered myself in years. A sad realization about the city's more recent transformation.) I found a lot of value in reading a literary sketch of Portland during the Great Depression, and getting to see just how things were impacting normal middle-class families. Since my family is going through some difficult financial times, that material was particularly interesting. And speaking of families, she covers her strained relationship with her mother, which I wouldn't have expected to get discussed quite so frankly in a memoir like this.
If that wasn't enough, there were some very beautiful passages about how she discovered the building blocks that would make her the nationally known author she is today. She makes it clear through some very specific references that she was one of her books' main characters in her youth.
Often I feel a weird kinship to Beverly Cleary, like she is my karmic grandmother. Not only does she look similar to my grandmother, but she has a deep connection to Oregon that I don't feel others in my family have. She was born here, and being in Oregon is all she knew for a very long time. Her attention to detail echoes mine, and her humor never fails to make me laugh, even as an adult. She's like the grandmother that just gets you. Except I suspect every child who read her books growing up might say the same...
If you were born in the Willamette Valley or Portland, if you'd like to get a sense of an Oregon past, definitely give this a read.
janet's review against another edition
4.0
I love this book SO much. My mom bought this for me when I was a kid, and reading it made me realize for the first time that authors were actually real people. It remains one of my most treasured books, and I'm thrilled to see it's back so I can stock it in my store.
panxa's review against another edition
3.0
I found this a little hard to get in to a first, I think because I found very young Beverly annoying. But once she got older I found her more relatable. Her mother, who seemed fine in Yamhill, got steadily more uncomfortable to read about to the point that it was almost claustrophobic, but Beverly does escape to California in the end. People whose own mothers are possessive, narcissistic or controlling might want to give this book a pass if they find such depictions triggering.
More...