Buffalo Gal [Paperback]

Laura Pedersen (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 31, 2008

Growing up in the snowblower society of Buffalo, New York, Laura Pedersen s first words were most likely turn the wheel into a skid. Like many families subsisting in the frigid North during the energy crisis, the Pedersens feared rising prices at the gas pump, argued about the thermostat, fought over the dog to stay warm at night, and often slept in their clothes. While her parents were preoccupied with surviving separation and stagflation, daughter Laura became the neighborhood wild child, skipping school, playing poker, betting on the horses, and trading stocks. Learning how to beat the odds, by high school graduation Pedersen was well prepared to seek her fortune on Wall Street, becoming the youngest person to have a seat on the American Stock Exchange and a millionaire by age 21. Combining laugh-out-loud humor with a slice of social history her hometown was a flash point for race riots, antiwar protests, and abortion rallies, not to mention bingo, bowling, and Friday night fish fries Pedersen paints a vivid portrait of an era.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"...[Pedersen's] wicked, sarcastic, dry, self-deprecating sense of humor won me over and I absolutely loved it start to finish." --Printed Page, October 8, 2008

Pedersen tells the story of her vindication in a book that is as defiantly irreverent and generously comic as it is fiscally instructive. --ForeWord, March 2009

"Her memoir is insightful; her writing crackles; her humor, though biting at times, is essentially kind and mostly un-cynical... If it is possible to write a memoir that is not overly self-centered, Laura Pedersen has done it." --Cozy Library, January 2009

Buffalo Gal is truly laugh-out-loud funny. Pedersen's sharp, witty style makes the otherwise sad story fun. --Buffalo Spree

It is Pedersen's gift to be able to draw the reader into her world. She infuses the book with humor and a wonderful take on the time and place in which she grew up. --Front Street Reviews

About the Author

Laura Pedersen has written for The New York Times and is the author of Play Money, Going Away Party, Beginner s Luck (chosen as a Barnes & Noble Discover Great New Writers selection), Last Call, Heart s Desire, The Sweetest Hours, and The Big Shuffle. In 1994, President Clinton honored her as one of Ten Outstanding Young Americans. She has appeared on Oprah, Good Morning America, Primetime Live, and The Late Show with David Letterman, and writes for several well-known comedians. Pedersen lives in New York City.

Product Details

• Paperback: 256 pages
• Publisher: Fulcrum Pub (October 31, 2008)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1555916929
• ISBN-13: 978-1555916923
• Product Dimensions: 8.4 x 5.5 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 14.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (29 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #785,171 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Laura Pedersen writes for The New York Times and is the author of Play Money, Going Away Party, Beginner's Luck (chosen as a Barnes & Noble Discover Great New Writers selection), Last Call, Heart's Desire, The Sweetest Hours, and The Big Shuffle. In 1994, President Clinton honored her as one of Ten Outstanding Young Americans. She has appeared on Oprah, Good Morning America, Primetime Live, and The Late Show with David Letterman, and she writes for several wellknown comedians. Pedersen lives in New York City.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A quirky, funny memoir, December 9, 2008

By 

Bookreporter (New York, New York) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Buffalo Gal (Paperback)

With BUFFALO GAL, bestselling author Laura Pedersen has written a side-splitting memoir, chockfull of her trademark humor and familial history.

The setting for Pedersen's early years is Buffalo, a once-robust industrial city (the eighth largest in the United States at the turn of the 20th century) that falls on hard times. Once known as the City of Light, Pedersen dubs it the "City of Blight" in the aftermath of the economic problems of the 1970s. Pedersen recalls how her grandparents, natives of Denmark and Ireland, ended up in the snowy city that in the ultimate of ironies "is the place where air conditioning was invented" and boasts an unrivaled sense of neighborhood and neighborliness. She shares stories of shoveling driveways "just because" --- just because the people of her fair hometown cared for each other and KNEW each other in a way that isn't often seen today.

Pedersen paints a broad history of the region while sharing small details that once again reflect her keen eye and razor-sharp humor. For instance, in talking about the host of various soothsayers, religions and cults that settled at various times in Buffalo and the surrounding towns, she writes about the Shakers that they "first had a village outside Albany where they practiced communal living and celibacy while crafting unornamented, functional finely made furniture. It's difficult to grow a commune while practicing celibacy, so they eventually died out, but not before inventing the clothespin." She missed nothing and makes fun of all, including herself.

Throughout her recollections we meet a host of likable, quirky characters: a grandfather who dreamt of opening a Scandinavian restaurant, a lovesick "nutter" aunt who attempted suicide, and a mother hypersensitive to even the mildest illnesses and medical issues, who had no dirth of gems when it came to health: "Mom said the only good thing about having a small bathroom is that when you are sick and unsure of where the most activity is going to take place, you can sit on the toilet while leaning over to vomit in the tub."

During the 1930s, her grandmother began investing in the stock market --- IBM, Pepsi-Cola, General Motors, AT&T and others. She kept meticulous ledger entries, and they showed that she was a model day trader by "housewife standards." "Armed with only the newspaper, she bought and sold like a professional." Perhaps it was some of that intuitive knowledge that led Pedersen herself to ultimately leave Buffalo --- because "they didn't have a Buffalo Stock Exchange" --- to become the youngest person to have a seat on the American Stock Exchange. "The best traders," she found, "were championship bridge, backgammon, chess and poker players." And so years of beating her family at poker and sneaking off to Canada to play the ponies served her well. At 21, she was a millionaire.

Whenever I think about writing my own life story, I recall the laughs more than anything else, and Pedersen seems to have done the same. Chapter titles alone ("Can't We All Just Get a Lawn?", "When Johnny Comes Typing Home") show that she has an endless reserve of humor. Even when she touches on the town's economic downturn, she remembers the spirit of the people, their loves and devotions, and she does so with wit. Remembering the church changing its mass times, she points out that the folks in her town loved their teams and "God had to change his schedule for the Buffalo Bills."

Describing her grandfather's death, she writes, "Grandpa executed a typically Scandinavian death. One morning shortly before his 89th birthday he said, 'Take me to the hospital. I'm done.'" I echo the sentiment. I'm done. Pedersen's quirky, funny memoir will be my holiday gift of choice this year. Everyone is getting a copy.

--- Reviewed by Roberta O'Hara

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars mild appeal to insiders only, April 10, 2010

By 

Dr Janet (York, N. Yorkshire England) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Buffalo Gal (Paperback)

I discovered this book while looking at other books about my hometown, Buffalo, NY. As an ex-pat living in the UK for the past 13+ years -- and very happily settled here -- I still have the occasional bout of homesickness, and Pederson's book seemed to offer a treat. Sadly, it's "memoir-lite" and "history-lite", and overall such a lightweight book that I had to persevere to finish. And, considering that Pedersen lived in my suburb and attended my high school (eight years after I did) and writes about teachers and places I know well, that says something. Her book reads like a series of after-dinner speeches and one-liners that she may have used in interviews. There's no depth to the historical facts she offers and little analysis of her experiences. The book is just OK, and I can't see it having any appeal to anyone outside of that small circle of locals to our suburb or to people who know her later life and want to explore her background a bit.

Much better memoirs about the life and times of a Western New York State girlhood are those by Catherine Gildiner: "Too Close to The Falls" and "After the Falls".

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Funny, Funny, Funny, March 31, 2009

By 

Maggie Haun (Madison, WI) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Buffalo Gal (Paperback)

Laura makes no claims at being a historian (herstorian?) but she includes of couple of great sketches about growing up in a declining steel town buckling under more than its fair share of sleet and taxes.
Whether you were raised in the sunbelt or the frostbelt and lived through the 70s or are on your first rainbow poncho and afro, this book will keep you chuckling.
It was especially fun to remember how girls were tracked for secretarial work and homemaking and what it was like to come of age while all that was crumbling around them, especially when seen through the lens of a girl watching "The Mary Tyler Moore" while living in a neighborhood of career housewives.
Laura beautifully captures a time and a place where people didn't have much money (it was the worst recession since the Great Depression and also the Energy Crisis) and there was constant fear (The Vietnam War, The Cold War) and yet people were not only resourceful (flooding backyards to make skating rinks) but never failed to help each other out (shoveling sidewalks and driveways for seniors -- no note). It reminded me of a lesson we all seem to be relearning in these current difficult times -- people are more important than things. And laughter is not only the best medicine, but it's free.