The Boys of My Youth

Rating:
Summary: about 20 pages worth reading
Review: ...the rest of this collection is pure self serving sap, the worst example of the "personal essay movement" i've read. find the one good essay (4th state of matter) and photocopy it. save your money.

Rating:
Summary: Excellent!
Review: This is hands down, the best book I've read all year. The stories flow effortlessly into each other, mapping out a detailed account of the stories of Ms. Beard's youth. I stongly recomend this one.

Rating:
Summary: Brilliant, forthright, honest writing
Review: A beautiful collection of autobiographical essays recalling her childhood, teen years, and the complexity of family life that continues to haunt her as she puts herself back together after her divorce in her mid-thirites. I was continually fascinated with her ability to hold together two different periods of times, juxtaposing two or more stories at the same time to give one an opportunity to see from varying points of view. In 'Cousins'she captures the essence of her relationship with her coursin right along side the relationship of her mother and aunt, and writes eloquently of her mother's dying process that is filled with both humor and poignancy. Beard shows her artistic brilliance in her essay 'Coyote' as she uses metaphor to describe her own life experiences with the life of a coyote. 'Bulldozing the Baby' is Beard's earliest memory of feeling both loss and betrayal. Each essay is rich, bold and forthright as Beard portrays aspects of her life with incredible honesty mingled with much humor and heartfelt emotion. I walk away with a new appreciation for writing and understand that I am but a toddler still crawling on hands and knees as I contemplate the writer that is within me.

Rating:
Summary: The boys of my youth.
Review: Growing up next door to joann I was flooded with a wealth of memories, Memories which I will cherish for my life. I remember good times and bad but the good times for me far outweigh the bad. I wish Jo the best of luck with all future endeavors.

Rating:
Summary: amazing.
Review: This book is not your life or my life. This book is not anyone's life but the author's. But then again, I guess identifying is what makes reading so enjoyable.

Rating:
Summary: this book will change your life.
Review: A haunting, evocative, and funny collection. This book made me a better writer. I disagree with an earlier reviewer who commented that she "stretches her metaphors." These essays are skillfully interrelated. Their quirkiness reflects the narrator's life: disjointed, alienated, betrayed. And the metaphors she uses to tie it all together with are succinctly appropo to her vision of the universe. This is a gorgeous book, a must-read.

Rating:
Summary: About loss and loneliness, yet funny and uplifting
Review: When you're reading this book, you really feel as if you get to know the author. Her warmth just shines through. Being around the same age as Jo Ann, I particularly enjoyed the stories of her growing up (my Barbies and Kens misbehaved the same way!). Yet as fun to read as most of the stories were, they were all tinged with sadness. The standout piece was "The Fourth State of Matter" with the brilliant juxtaposition of the efforts Jo Ann made to make her dying dog comfortable and senseless loss of life at the university. The piece re her drive back from Florida was chilling and unforgettable (and her husband's reaction brilliantly described). At times, I found her metaphors a bit stretched but that would be my main criticism. Strongly recommended.

Rating:
Summary: An absolutely beautiful, touching book!
Review: You feel like you are right there with the author. Honest, true, real stories. As another reviewer already stated, you feel like Beard is a long-time friend telling you her deepest emotions and sharing intimate details. I loved it and I can't wait to read more by this author!

Rating:
Summary: WOW!!
Review: I couldn't put it down.....I almost stroked out from laughing so hard at "Dirty Barbies." Can't wait for her next book.

Rating:
Summary: "The Boys of My Youth" was like remembering myself.
Review: Beard was so precise and poetically subtle in describing her world and the imagination that runs along with it. The story about how she would visit her grandparents was an amazingly strong hit right on a mark of catharsis and childhood. I was at the bookstore and just sort of happened to see her book and pick it up. I read the first story and I bought it immediately. It was about a two page, short and so prose like. The style of writing was so lucid and reminiscent of the writers that I admire and have inspired me in my own work. I think she's funny and her sense of humor made me laugh. She has that brillant sense of herself as a deadly serious thought-dweller on life, and the cracks and bits of humor that make her powerful and relatable.