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A review by donnaeve
The Boys of My Youth by Jo Ann Beard
5.0
I was mesmerized by the writing style of Jo Ann Beard. She did a magnificent job capturing her youth, really her life in general, from the time when she was about three up through adult years. I laughed out loud as some of her descriptions of her relationship with her mother, her aunts, friends, siblings.
She wrote often saying, "We" this, or "they" that. She might be referencing herself for "we" or maybe her and her doll, Hal, or someone else, but it was so uniquely done. Her voice in these stories comes through and takes a reader right into her head, and how she thought of situations throughout her life.
One scene with her doll, Hal, is absolutely hilarious. Jo Ann had "experimented" with Hal by putting him in the tub. He now lay soaking wet in a sodden mass on the floor. Her mother came in to wash her hair and evidently Jo Ann, at three, hated having her hair washed and threw a hissy fit. Her mother, just as determined and resolute "brass knuckled" her head in the towel after it was all over and then swatted her on her rear end.
Here's a snippet to show how she captured her voice and actions at three years of age.
"The bathroom ceiling had sparkles on it. The dog-in-the-boat stain was still there. Hal was wadded up inside a towel on the floor. I unrolled him and we lay on the bath mat together, panting quietly. They had manhandled us."
I could go on and on, but with that five stars, you can tell, I loved her writing!
She wrote often saying, "We" this, or "they" that. She might be referencing herself for "we" or maybe her and her doll, Hal, or someone else, but it was so uniquely done. Her voice in these stories comes through and takes a reader right into her head, and how she thought of situations throughout her life.
One scene with her doll, Hal, is absolutely hilarious. Jo Ann had "experimented" with Hal by putting him in the tub. He now lay soaking wet in a sodden mass on the floor. Her mother came in to wash her hair and evidently Jo Ann, at three, hated having her hair washed and threw a hissy fit. Her mother, just as determined and resolute "brass knuckled" her head in the towel after it was all over and then swatted her on her rear end.
Here's a snippet to show how she captured her voice and actions at three years of age.
"The bathroom ceiling had sparkles on it. The dog-in-the-boat stain was still there. Hal was wadded up inside a towel on the floor. I unrolled him and we lay on the bath mat together, panting quietly. They had manhandled us."
I could go on and on, but with that five stars, you can tell, I loved her writing!