The Division Street Princess: A Memoir [Paperback]

Elaine Soloway (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: May 1, 2006

Set in the 1940s, Elaine Soloway’s memoir takes its title from the street that Studs Terkel exalts in his classic book, Division Street: America, and from the pet name her father gave her. Soloway lived in a three-room flat above her family’s grocery store. In her tale of bookies, poolrooms, sidewalk playgrounds, and relatives who lived down the block, we learn about her loving but embattled parents, her adored older brother, and neighborhood kibitzers. Along with her recollections of a lively, unique community, she also shows the underside of childhood and urban life. Although far from the Holocaust and the war overseas, Soloway faced dangers close to home when a child her age was horribly murdered, and when predators preyed on voiceless little girls. As Soloway struggled to find her own identity, the family store and Division Street waged battles too: for post-war prosperity, television, supermarkets, and suburbia threatened an end to corner stores—and to old neighborhoods everywhere.

Editorial Reviews

From Booklist

Soloway, the daughter of European Jewish immigrants, grew up in a quintessential Chicago neighborhood during and after World War II. Small for her age, bookish, and circumspect, she rarely seemed to please her beautiful, stylish, and hardworking mother but was called "Princess" by her cheerful father, who could not for the life of him control his appetites for fattening foods, cigarettes, and gambling. The family of four lived in cramped quarters above their small grocery store, where they all worked. Soloway's child's-eye view of her ill-matched yet loving parents struggling to rise above poverty and ensure that their children live easier and more fulfilling lives enlivens a classic immigrant's tale. Simply and gracefully told, Soloway's sweet and lucid memoir affirms the vulnerability and valor of young girls and captures the atmosphere of a striving ethnic community in a rapidly changing city neighborhood. The world Soloway remembers is a microcosm of America, where wave after wave of diverse immigrants enrich our lives. Donna Seaman
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

About the Author

Elaine Soloway is a public relations consultant and freelance writer whose essays have appeared in many publications including New York Times Money & Business, Chicago Tribune WomanNews, Chicago Jewish News, and many others. Her long career in public relations has focused on housing, health care, and economic development. She was also a press aide to former Chicago Mayor Jane Byrne and School Superintendent Ruth Love. Ms. Soloway lives in Chicago.

Product Details

• Paperback: 240 pages
• Publisher: Syren Book Company; 1 edition (May 1, 2006)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0929636635
• ISBN-13: 978-0929636634
• Product Dimensions: 8.3 x 5.3 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 10.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (12 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #379,271 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #82 in Books > Biographies & Memoirs > Family & Childhood

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars This book is a real keeper, May 7, 2006

By 

Beverly Steinberg (Humboldt Park, Chicago) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Division Street Princess: A Memoir (Paperback)

After not being able to put down The Division Street Princess until I finished reading it, I thought I was done with it... but clearly the book is not done with me. I cannot stop thinking about it. Elaine Shapiro Soloway's words evoke pictures that exist in my head even more vividly than the photos she shares in her book. They are nostalgic, happy, bittersweet, and frightening. This book is a real keeper so buy 2 copies; you will want to share it with everyone you know!

6 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Timeless--A Treasure, June 11, 2006

By 

Ann Paden "--author of I Bought It At Polk Bros." (Bernalillo, NM United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Division Street Princess: A Memoir (Paperback)

I was drawn into this wonderful book by the details of daily life in 1942 as seen, in the first pages, through the eyes of a four-year-old child. And I stayed with delight to absorb that little girl's increasingly acute awareness of family, friends, neighbors, and the urban neighborhood itself, as she grew into her early teens. The way in which the reader comes to know and ultimately care deeply about the parents, Min and Irv Shapiro, and the future of the family is especially satisfying. While the time and the place are unique, I believe that everyone of any age will find something familiar in this lovely memoir.

6 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A riveting memoir!, May 2, 2006

By 

Danny Miller (Los Angeles, CA USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Division Street Princess: A Memoir (Paperback)

I am not a Soloway but I am crazy about this book! Elaine Soloway transports us to an urban Chicago neighborhood in the 1940s and takes us on a journey through her unique Jewish childhood. I loved every Yiddish inflection, every Chicago reference, and every stop in this remarkable El ride through Elaine's loving, poignant, and often challenging world. This book belongs on a shelf with the likes of Vivian Gornick, Annie Dillard, Anne Roiphe, and Elizabeth Ehrlich. Reading about the amazing woman Soloway became in daughter Jill's book "Tiny Ladies in Shiny Pants," I can only hope that Elaine is sequestered in her Chicago home busily working on the sequel to "The Division Street Princess."