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Do-Over! In Which a Forty-Eight-Year-Old Father of Three Returns to Kindergarten, Summer Camp, the Prom, and Other Embarrassments
 
 
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Do-Over! In Which a Forty-Eight-Year-Old Father of Three Returns to Kindergarten, Summer Camp, the Prom, and Other Embarrassments [Hardcover]

Robin Hemley (Author)
4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (24 customer reviews)

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Read an Excerpt
Read the first chapter of Robin Hemley's Do-Over! [PDF].

Book Description

May 11, 2009
Robin Hemley's childhood made a wedgie of his memory, leaving him sore and embarrassed for over forty years. He was the most pitiful kindergartner, the least spirited summer camper, and dateless for prom. In fact, there's nary an event from his youth that couldn't use improvement. If only he could do them all over a few decades later, with an adult's wisdom, perspective, and giant-like height...

In the spirit of cult film classics like Billy Madison and Wet Hot American Summer, in DO-OVER! Hemley reencounters paper mache, revisits his childhood home, and finally attends the prom--bringing readers the thrill of recapturing a misspent youth and discovering what's most important: simple pleasures, second chances, and the forgotten joys of recess.

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Do-Over! In Which a Forty-Eight-Year-Old Father of Three Returns to Kindergarten, Summer Camp, the Prom, and Other Embarrassments + Crafting The Personal Essay: A Guide for Writing and Publishing Creative Non-Fiction
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Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

When Hemley, a writing professor at the University of Iowa, decides that he wants to do over some of the experiences he flubbed as a child, he isn't just dreaming. The 48-year-old father of three makes a list of times and places he'd like to revisit, including kindergarten, the prom and summer camp, doggedly pursuing all the contacts and background checks necessary to storm the walls of childhood as an adult. Surprisingly, the kids and teachers he meets along the way accept him in his overgrown state; some even express envy. The complex logistics of Hemley's quest—including endless e-mails and phone calls to convince others that he's legit—can be tedious, but Hemley is endearing, funny and more than a bit courageous (the night before his first day of kindergarten, he's too nervous to sleep.) As he tackles his part in the school play or sits with the popular kids at lunch, Hemley philosophically ponders the lessons of the past. While some experiences don't pan out quite the way he hopes (after crashing his car into the ACT center, he ditches the idea of a standardized test repeat), others fall serendipitously into place (a crush from high school now works as the school's alumni director and agrees to be his prom date). A big kid at heart, the author draws readers in with just the right mix of humor and tenderness. 22 b&w photos. (May)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

From Booklist

Regrets? Sure, he has a few. Ten to be precise. Beginning with a shrewish kindergarten teacher who made his first academic year pure torture and ending with his mortifying withdrawal from a foreign-exchange program his senior year in high school, Hemley revisits the lowest episodes of his formative years in order to gain perspective on what went wrong the first time around. Inventively, Hemley actually reenacts the “do-over” experience in pursuit of authenticity, adopting the persona of a sixth-grader to see if this time he can avoid being the bullies’ favorite target, and finally nail his lines from “The Littlest Angel,” a performance complete with a super-sized costume. Now a middle-aged husband and father and successful author and professor, Hemley knows he should have left these youthful traumas behind, but unavoidable shame and unsettled scores die hard. Taking the concept of “coulda, woulda, shoulda” to its most eccentric extreme, Hemley’s step back in time imparts hard-earned wisdom with humility and humor. --Carol Haggas

Product Details

  • Hardcover: 336 pages
  • Publisher: Little, Brown and Company; 1st edition (May 11, 2009)
  • Language: English
  • ISBN-10: 0316020605
  • ISBN-13: 978-0316020602
  • Product Dimensions: 5.8 x 1.1 x 8.5 inches
  • Shipping Weight: 14.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
  • Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (24 customer reviews)
  • Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #961,323 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews
8 of 9 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
Be ready to hold your side while reading Do Over. I slurped down most of the book while sitting on a plane to New York - my fellow passengers starred at me as I shook with laughter and smiled with every muscle of my body. I even caught them watching my hand as I reached into my purse a few times to tap the tears streaming from eyes. Finally a burly white haired man leaned across the aisle and asked me what I was reading. Out loud I read an excerpt from the first essay and the first two rows of the coach class were laughing in the aisles.

This book is the perfect Father's Day gift. Or just send it to one of your childhood friends and oh the conversations that will arise.
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4 of 4 people found the following review helpful
Don't miss this book! May 19, 2009
Format:Hardcover
One thing Robin Hemley won't ever have to do over is Do-Over!, his hilarious, wise, and moving account of his attempts to revisit and correct his past embarrassments and failures. This is a masterpiece of contemporary creative nonfiction and an absolute blast to read. Through his do-overs, Hemley reaches a delicate kind of détente with his past self and learns how to become a better father to his four daughters. This book would make an ideal Father's Day gift--or any kind of gift. The book is so good it has inspired me to do a do-over of my own: I plan to re-read it again very soon.
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6 of 7 people found the following review helpful
Different IS great! June 8, 2009
Format:Hardcover
"There's a new kid in class..He's very big. I don't know what to think about that."

Robin Hemley's do-overs are brave and honest, and yes, laugh out loud funny. He's frank and vulnerable about his insecurities and past missteps, achingly so at times. But there's a lot of Do-ing Now in DO-OVER too. The layering of those two worlds--past and present--will take you on a rich journey through sweet and painful regrets only to land you at the center of Hemley's tender and full life, one in which Then and Now form a wise and witty truce.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
Robin Hemley is an original!
Enjoyed Robin's Do-Overs and his absolute candor and willingness to commit. Great reminder that even the past (or how we look at it) can be changed. Read more
Published 3 months ago by tjswampwalker
A bit sad, but I can appreciate the spirit and the attempt...
There are some moments that we would all like to have over. But this author lists a lot of them and that is a little sad - and distracted me from enjoying the story. Read more
Published 6 months ago by Cheeseman
The Past as Prologue and Play-time
from the Bellingham Review. . .

"Some things, like first kisses and circumcisions, are un-do-over-able," writes Robin Hemley in his new book _Do-Over! Read more
Published on May 15, 2010 by David M. Wanczyk
Read this witty, enthralling book!!
What time in your life or embarrassing experience would you like to redo? Author Robin Hemley explores this intriguing concept in his book DO-OVER! Read more
Published on February 16, 2010 by Josie Jean
Wonderfully funny and charming
"Do-Over!" will make you want to read it over and over. The book is exceptionally funny and witty. Robin is brave enough to write about things that he was not successful in during... Read more
Published on September 29, 2009 by N. Romanova
Good, funny read
This is a great, lighthearted book that's thoroughly enjoyable! It made me think about my life and the direction I'm going in a positive way. Several laugh out loud moments
Published on September 24, 2009 by M Auxier
RICK "SHAQ" GOLDSTEIN SAYS: "I'M GOING TO SIT AT THE KID'S TABLE!"
Whenever I go to a family gathering on occasions such as Thanksgiving... Christmas... or the Fourth Of July... and there is an adult table... and a kids table... Read more
Published on August 31, 2009 by Rick Shaq Goldstein
Do-Over Oh-So-funny
So I'm sitting on a park bench while my kids play nearby on the playground equipment. Of course I'm reading Do-Over! Read more
Published on August 14, 2009 by Alfred L. Clark
If Do-Over Adventure Has a Name ...
... it must be Robin Hemley. I had the good fortune of studying under Robin Hemley in 2004 and I once described him as a cross between Woody Allen, Indiana Jones and Willy Wonka,... Read more
Published on July 22, 2009 by Wes Saylors Jr.
A Book I Loved!
While I expected that Do-Over would make me laugh, I didn't anticipate the lovely sadness it would make me feel. Read more
Published on July 20, 2009 by Sue W. Silverman
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