Welcome to the childhood of Catherine McClure Gildiner. It is the mid-1950s in Lewiston; New York; a sleepy town near Niagara Falls. Divorce is unheard of; mothers wear high heels to the beauty salon; and television has only just arrived.At the tender age of four; Cathy accompanies Roy; the deliveryman at her father's pharmacy; on his routes. She shares some of their memorable deliveries-sleeping pills to Marilyn Monroe (in town filming Niagara); sedatives to Mad Bear; a violent Tuscarora chief; and fungus cream to Warty; the gentle operator of the town dump. As she reaches her teenage years; Cathy's irrepressible spirit spurs her from dangerous sled rides that take her "too close to the Falls" to tipsy dances with the town priest.
#402635 in Books 2002-02-26 2002-02-26Original language:EnglishPDF # 1 7.80 x .87 x 5.10l; .56 #File Name: 014200040X400 pages
Review
0 of 0 people found the following review helpful. Long-winded at times!By DFA little long-winded; but it has its moments. The biggest flaw in this book -- to me -- is the author's relationship to her younger person. She seems to linger in Adult thoughts that just don't align much with the age range in the book. Many quotations of her younger self include words that I don't even sometimes understand or know. I'm reading it for bookclub; otherwise it would not have been a book I would choose. The very beginning seems pretty mundane so it took several pages to even get hooked. Once hooked; I had fun reading it until about the last third which slowed down immensely. Not everyone would like this book so I would not recommend it.0 of 0 people found the following review helpful. Loved it. I am very familiar so it was ...By Robert T. DufortLoved it. I am very familiar so it was fun to see it in a book.0 of 0 people found the following review helpful. Too Close for ComfortBy Auntie ChulaThis is a well-written; but very troubling memoir of a girl growing up in Lewiston; NY. Her non-parenting parents and her hypocritical church conspired to make an intelligent; warm child with ADHD into a very troubled teen. In some ways I'd like to read the sequels to this book to find out how she survived and learned to thrive; but I don't know that I have the guts to do so. Her story broke my heart.
