Growing Up Mostly Normal in the Middle of Nowhere: A Memoir [Paperback]

John Sheirer (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: April 1, 2005

This memoir stands out as a beautifully written account of a mostly happy, mostly normal, fully real life at once both ordinary and extraordinary. Sheirer explores intensely personal experiences and relationships with humor, surprise, awe, suspense, and deep insight. With the depth of a memoir and the flow of a novel, Sheirer chronicles how his simple youth of farm, sports, school, nature, and family led him to an unlikely adulthood as an author and college professor.

Editorial Reviews

Review

. . . that kind of insight into the dichotomy of life is quite an accomplishment indeed. -- Patricia F. D'Ascoli, Publisher, Connecticut Muse

2004 Sante Fe Writers Project Literary Award Finalist -- 2004 Sante Fe Writers Project Literary Award Finalist

A brilliant and delightful showcase of boyhood memories...this memoir sings with honesty, humor, and grace. -- Kevin O'Hara, author of Last of the Donkey Pilgrims

A humorous and oh-so-easy-to-relate-to story. -- Carol Wells, editor of Humor is Relative

Polished and wonderfully written with humor and attention to the smallest detail. -- Daniel Blasi, editor of Full Circle Journal

The writing is engaging and enjoyable, the themes universal... -- Suzanne Strempek Shea, author of Songs From a Lead-Lined Room and Shelf Life

From the Publisher

In Growing Up Mostly Normal in the Middle of Nowhere: a Memoir, John Sheirer teaches us we can go home again... in fact, like the author, we never really left.

Sheirer, a native of Madley, Pennsylvania, takes us on a humorous and yet poignant journey from his "mostly normal" boyhood in the "middle of nowhere" to his present job as faculty member of Asnuntuck Community College in Connecticut.

The memoir is refreshingly upbeat unlike many of today's screaming tell-alls. It's written as a series of evocative and candid vignettes as he returns to the old farmstead after twenty years.

Growing up in a family of modest means, John recounts the hardships as well as the joys of everyday life. He ties together the two passages of his life--where he is and where he's been.

You'll laugh as he suddenly realizes he's inherited some of his mother's qualities. At his first big trip away from home--his senior class outing to New York City--a seven hour bus ride. You may shed a tear as he recalls the significance of that last arm-wrestling match with his father. The last moments he spent with his Grandma before her death and the "secret" he learns.

If you're familiar with the roads he travels home on his route to the old farm in the south of southwest central Pennsylvania, you may feel you, too, are on your way home. He includes bits of local legend and history of the area.

Sheirer recently designed a memoir writing course at the college he teaches in. Surely this explains in part why his story is so richly told. You won't soon forget it.

ForemostPress.com

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Product Details

• Paperback: 208 pages
• Publisher: Foremost Press (April 1, 2005)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0974892114
• ISBN-13: 978-0974892115
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 6 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 11.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,554,734 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A wonderful escape to the middle of nowhere..., October 21, 2005

By 

Timothy Gager "some call me Tim" (Boston) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Growing Up Mostly Normal in the Middle of Nowhere: A Memoir (Paperback)

As stated in his introduction, John Sheier's memoir is not about a life of crime, drugs, "the Underworld", abuse, survival or redemption. It is not about anything sensational that will attract undo attention and cause readers to rush the local mega-bookstore. Sheier is not going to appear on Oprah or, for that matter, Court TV. Growing Up Mostly Normal in the Middle of Nowhere is about growing up in extremely rural Pennsylvania; in a house on the side of a mountain.

I myself, grew up in rural Long Island, so I could relate to the story of a man traveling back to where he grew up and the memories associated with the return. The memoir is warm, reminiscent and captures our world in all its innocence. As we all know, today's world is less than innocent, so much so, that the feel of the book places the reader back to a much "simpler time", yet much of it is set only as far back as the late sixties and early seventies. It is fascinating for the author to take us back to that time period and compare it versus how time has been historically captured.

The stories of how John was brought up and how he was raised are riveting, often humorous, making the reader ponder, "What is normal, what is mostly normal, and what the aberration is?" I was left feeling that John Sheier's account of his own upbringing was refreshingly different than how most of us grew up.

If Sheier's book were to be serialized, it would have the feel of "The Waltons", and ironically Richard Thomas makes a cameo, during a high school field trip by the author to New York City!

I recommend this book, in the same way the author was motivated to write it: It is a wonderful peaceful, escape to the middle of nowhere, mentally bringing the reader in front of a cozy fire or under a mountain of quilts.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Moving Tale of Embracing the Past, October 9, 2005

By 

Callie Anderson (Durham, NH) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Growing Up Mostly Normal in the Middle of Nowhere: A Memoir (Paperback)

"A Moving Tale of Embracing the Past"
This terrific memoir follows the author as he revisits his past and discovers more about who he is and why turned out the way he did. Sheirer is a college professor with a secret--he grew up poor in a semi-hillbilly area. But the book reveals how he learned to embrace the contradictions of his past and present. Sheirer is a funny, tender, mature, and delightful writer who tells a unique and universal life story with sophisticated but accessible and beautiful language.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Funny and Beautiful Memoir, October 7, 2005

By 

Gerry Pattersun - See all my reviews

This review is from: Growing Up Mostly Normal in the Middle of Nowhere: A Memoir (Paperback)

John Sheirer's memoir of returning home after many years away is a joy. He really shows how a somewhat sheltered and odd farm youth actually helped him develop into a down-to-earth, caring, college professor with strong values. Some sections had me laughing out loud while others brought me close to tears. As you might expect from someone who teaches memoir writing, it's exceptionally well written and structured better than any memoir I've ever read. This is not a famous writer, but anyone who likes to read thoughtful, reflective, passionate, humorous, loving, and readable writing will really appreciate this book.