East Liberty

Rating:
Summary: Unexpected Delight -- I Recommend it Highly
Review: In the real East Liberty, in Pittsburgh, where Joseph Bathanti, an author I had never heard of, and I grew up, I attended a function dedicating a refurbished theater and celebrating locals, including Bathanti, who have made good. He had a table set up in the lobby where one could purchase copies of his book East Liberty and, frankly, I bought a copy simply to be supportive of this hometown fellow. And although I fully intended to dip into the book, I doubted that it would merit my reading it to the end.

To my surprise and delight, I learned - despite the book's less-than-enticing title unless you happen to hail from East Liberty - that this fellow Bathanti is a wonderful writer, far more readable than many of the big names who have managed to secure the services of mammoth marketing machines. My concern now is that his book won't receive the kind of publicity and marketing it deserves.

Joseph Bathanti's anecdotes about growing up fatherless in a working class Italian family are authentic and affecting. But it is his skilled use of language that impresses. During an evening of mischief with his own friends and a rival group, the young narrator finds himself the victim of a ricocheting rock. He doesn't know at first that he's been wounded but eventually feels "the warm scarf of blood on my bare neck." When an ambulance comes to haul off a neighbor felled by a heart attack, he says, "It's red lights spray my bedroom with what looks like blood and fire."

East Liberty is a story of struggle and love, hope and survival, in a blue collar, multi-ethnic neighborhood. And although it is presented as a novel, it reads like an autobiography. If that is not the case, Bathanti's powers of description have convinced me otherwise. There are incidents in East Liberty that will make you laugh out loud and that will resonate with your own experiences, but the stories of his hardworking mother, his stern and culturally eccentric immigrant grandparents, and multi-cultural neighborhood influences are haunting and bring back memories of the "good old days" that were not necessarily so good.

Rating:
Summary: Good Coming of Age Story
Review: This book captures the reader from the beginning, with it's story of a young boy trying to cope with being fatherless is 1950's/60's parochial Pittsburgh. We feel how difficult everything is for Bobby, how tough it was for him to just get by day to day. His Mother does not seem to have a great support network, which also makes it hard for them to survive.

My only problem is that Francene seems a little underdeveloped. I needed more of her, and that would help me see Bobby better.

Rating:
Summary: The not so Good old Days
Review: This is a moving story of a boy growing up in a neighborhood that many of us can identify with. The uncertainty of childhood has been portrayed with a skillful touch. The author delves deep into the dark corners of youg Bobby's mind, only to find that there are no easy answers to life or its meaning. I read the book through at one sitting.