Title: After the Falls: Coming of Age in the Sixties
Author: Catherine Gildiner
My Review:
After the Falls: Coming of Age in the Sixties is outrageous.
Outrageously funny, engaging, insightful, and touching. Catherine Gildiner is a talented storyteller and writer who creates a story so compelling and so real, I was completely engrossed. At times, I was moved to tears.
The fascinating aspect of After the Falls is that much of Gildiner’s youth was ordinary yet she retells it with extraordinary skill. While there is nothing (or not much, at least) that is outrageously funny, Gildiner is able to glean humor out of almost every situation. Take, for example, Cathy’s mission to rid her community of black lawn jockeys, also known as the Black Lawn Jockey Civil Rights Project.
“I was mystified as to why someone in Buffalo, New York, who had a tasteful large brick home with a beautifully landscaped lawn on a tree-lined street, would think, “Gee, our house isn’t complete until we have a statue of a black slave topped with a small jockey cap on our lawn.”
That caper marked an important turning point for Gildiner, as it was her first foray into civil disobedience, for the sake of civil rights. That would become an important part of her life.
It’s quite amazing how Gildiner is able to make readers feel not like spectators of her life story but like insiders. You’ll feel, as I did, as though you’re right alongside Cathy, as she faces a myriad of struggles — typical issues like adjusting to her new, smaller home in “Tiny Town,” fitting in at her new school, dealing with her parents, and navigating the trials and tribulations of being a teenager as well as far more fascinating ones that come with being a child of the 60s.
I loved this book, plain and simple. Reading After the Falls is a nostalgic experience. But it does leave you wanting. Wanting to read Too Close to the Falls, that is. And then perhaps re-reading After the Falls.
*I received a copy of this book to review but I was not financially compensated in any way. The opinions expressed are my own and are based on my observations while reading this novel.*
Giveaway
One reader is going to win a copy of After the Falls.
To Enter:
Leave a comment.
Bonus Entries:
- Subscribe to my blog by email.
- Follow my blog on Google Friend Connect.
- Blog about the giveaway and leave me the link.
- Follow me on Twitter and tweet the giveaway. You can tweet once per day. Leave me the link to your tweet.
- Like Simply Stacie on Facebook.
- Follow Simply Stacie on Networked Blogs.
- Join the Simply Stacie Blog Frog Community.
- Add my new button.
- Add any of my event buttons. Leave one comment per button.
- Vote for Simply Stacie on Picket Fence Blogs. You can do this once per day.
- Visit my Open Sky Store and tell me your favourite product.
Open to US & Canada.
Giveaway ends on December 2, 2010 at 11:59 pm EST. The winner will be selected by random.org and notified by email and will have 48 hours to reply back before a new winner is selected. Good Luck!
About Kristin
Sounds like a great book!
I voted for you on Picket Fences.
I follow by email.
I follow on GFC.
I like Simply Stacie on Facebook.
I’ve heard good thinds about this one.
Please enter me, thanks.
ruthiekb72ATyahooDOTcom
FB follower
ruthiekb72ATyahooDOTcom
I’d love to read this book!
Thanks,
Jen
jryder416 at yahoo dot com
I’m a GFC follower(Jennifer).
jryder416 at yahoo dot com
I’m an email subscriber.
jryder416 at yahoo dot com
I love everything 60′s and would love to win this book.
teddyr66 at yahoo dot com
I follow you.
I follow you on Twitter and I tweeted.
I clicked on “Like: on Facebook.
I follow you on Networked Blogs.
I am a member of your Blog Frog Community.
I voted for you on Picket Fence Blogs.
I love kitchen gadgets and tools, so my favorite item at Open Sky Store is the Chicago Cutlery Insignia Kitchen Scissors.
I certainly enjoyed her first book when I read it for book club. I’d lvoe to read this one too!
follower
subscriber
like you on fb
network blog follower
Sounds like a great book. Please enter me. Tore923@aol.com
sounds like it has a bit of everything I enjoy
yourstrulee(at)sasktel(dot)net
Subscribe to my blog by email.
yourstrulee(at)sasktel(dot)net
Follow my blog on Google Friend Connect.
I do as primrose
yourstrulee(at)sasktel(dot)net
Like Simply Stacie on Facebook
yourstrulee(at)sasktel(dot)net
Follow Simply Stacie on Networked Blogs.
yourstrulee(at)sasktel(dot)net
Join the Simply Stacie Blog Frog Community
yourstrulee(at)sasktel(dot)net
voted for you on Picket Fence Blogs
yourstrulee(at)sasktel(dot)net
the Dog Cool Mist Humidifier is my favorite
yourstrulee(at)sasktel(dot)net
Looks like a good book.
I would love to win this! It looks like a great read.
megankyser at gmail dot com
I follow simply stacie with GFC.
megankyser at gmail dot com
I like simply stacie on facebook.
megankyser at gmail dot com
I follow you on twitter and tweeted the giveaway.
http://twitter.com/mekyser/status/5455431027658752
megankyser at gmail dot com
I have your button on my blog.
http://amethystdaydreams.blogspot.com/
megankyser at gmail dot com
i am subscribed via email
teddymun@gmail.com
i am a follower thru GFC as yokemun
followed your twitter and tweeted about your giveaway
http://twitter.com/#!/ymc2807/status/5463770327425024
I have your winter follower event button on my blog.
http://amethystdaydreams.blogspot.com/
megankyser at gmail dot com
I have your gift giveaway event button on my blog.
http://amethystdaydreams.blogspot.com/
megankyser at gmail dot com
I have your gift guide button on my blog.
http://amethystdaydreams.blogspot.com/
megankyser at gmail dot com
I love the essential oils in your open sky store.
megankyser at gmail dot com
Thanks for the chance.
I follow.
For those of you that missed the sixties, they were great! I’d love to read this and reminisce.
lkish77123 at gmail dot com
I am an Email subscriber
lkish77123 at gmail dot com
I am a GFC follower
lkish77123 at gmail dot com