March 1, 2010
A quirky, irreverent story of growing up odd in the 1970s, when people still wrote letters, loved shag carpeting and used carbon paper.
Fox Television radio-marketing executive Poole grew up in the Midwest in a family, and among an assortment of characters, destined to end up in a coming-of-age memoir. Some of the more entertaining stories include the chaos of his parents' fighting in 1969; the author's befriending of the sarcastic, armless Stacy (who"exhibit[ed] her stumps to the amazement and awe of the gathered fourth-graders"); his magical obsessions with Bewitched, which included an unhealthy attachment to Endora; and his failed exorcism of another boy in Bible school. From his early childhood, when he escaped into his family's basement to chant magical charms to ward off alienation and chaos, through his teenage years, when the normal teenager panic was amplified by the added bewilderment of his awakening homosexuality, Poole shares an intimate, self-effacing chronicle of a unique young boy and the forces that molded him into the grounded, articulate, charming oddball he is today. The real charm of the book lies in the authenticity of the humor. There is not one forced moment in the book, nor is there a stitch of disingenuous manipulation to get a cheap laugh or manufacture a setup to a joke. Each entertaining tidbit grows from the characters, their lives, their struggles and their unforgivably shameless honesty. This is the story of growing up as the exception, but learning to understand that if you're lucky and have the right mix of crazy people in your life, being the exception can morph into being exceptional.
A witty, observant, deliciously satisfying autobiography.
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April 15, 2010
Pooles episodic memoir of growing up in 1970s St. Louis breaks no new ground in this well-mined field, but it is funny, nevertheless, and engagingly large-hearted. The authors humor is largely character-driven, focusing on his long-suffering father, his older sister, and his cleanliness-obsessed mother, who would be more than a match for Mr. Clean. Poole has his own obsession: Endora from Bewitched. Whenever things get tough, he dons a white chenille bedspread and becomes the Endora of St. Louis, imagining magical solutions to his many problemsbullies, his parents arguments, an enforced camping trip with mannish Aunt Jennie, his growing awareness of his homosexualitywith mixed success. Somewhere along the line, Endora is replaced by God, who doesnt seem much more reliable, though Poole does become a demon trumpet player, which mayby the time hes in high schoolopen the door to peer acceptance. Readers will be rooting for him.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2010, American Library Association.)