Word: boyhoods
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Autobiographies tend to fall into three broad categories: lives of the rich and famous, twisted tales of the dysfunctional and portraits of artists as young scamps. Boyhood: Scenes from Provincial Life, the new memoir by J.M. Coetzee, a South African novelist and Booker Prize-winner, ostensibly falls into the final category. In this short and elegantly written book, Coetzee chronicles his childhood in Worcester, a dusty settlement outside of Cape Town. Between the ages of eight and thirteen, the young Coetzee struggles with his Afrikaans identity, quarrels with his parents and pursues a secret double-life...
Despite a surface gloss of style, Boyhood never attains the frankness and intimacy that characterize successful autobiography. Coetzee's spare style, well-suited for drawing out psychological tensions, isn't appropriate for this subject matter. What makes Coetzee tick--and what drives him to write--remain unsolved mysteries...
Throughout my journey, I met interesting folks, including Tom Mix's mother-in-law, a former circus performer who showed me how to walk a tightrope and two old-maid sisters who lived in an unpainted house and produced elegant wallpaper designs. More than 40 years ago, after a boyhood spent in a small Kansas town, I took this trip, and I was not surprised to find that America had a warm heart and lots of common sense. It is still true today, and your Highway 50 caravan proves it. CLYDE HOSTETTER San Luis Obispo, Calif...
DIED. LAURIE LEE, 82, British poet whose memoirs traced the paths of his boyhood and the Andalusian trails of war; in Gloucestershire, England. The Edge of Day bore the musty scent of memory--and first love...
People there pop pills to raise their depressed spirits. They cover their paranoia with clenched-jaw politesse. They don't quite understand Martin's dismay when he discovers that his boyhood home has been replaced by a convenience store--where the clerk gets so lost in a noisy video game that he fails to notice a real-life gun battle breaking out in his aisles. Therein lies this movie's fundamental irony: anarchy may bloom from Martin's gun barrel, but unlike his old pals, he is not in denial about it. He is still trying to nurture the shoots...