A CHILDHOOD: THE BIOGRAPHY OF A PLACE

A Childhood: The Biography of a Place by Harry Crews - I learned of this author upon reading his obituary a few months ago. This book was known to be one of his best, written about his hard childhood on a hardscrabble Georgia farm. Harry was an impressionable little boy and his storytelling is descriptive and leaves no doubt as to the crazy goings-on of that depression era life. When I was young I loved reading William Saroyan's accounts of growing up Armenian in California, and likewise I enjoyed reading about Harry's life growing up southern in Georgia. This and his other works are described as "rough" "raw" and "freakish" by other reviewers, but I read this only as honest and bigger than life as seen through the eyes of a child and the distance of memory. Anyone who thinks too hard and dwells with one foot in the past will recognize a fellow thinker/dweller and enjoy his story. Harry Crews was a prolific author, and I'm looking forward to exploring some of his other works.