Growing Up on Route 66 [Paperback]

Michael Lund (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 1, 2000

Growing Up on Route 66 is set in a Missouri small town along “America’s Main Street.” Most of the action takes place in a neighborhood known to the children growing up there as the "Circle.” That time and place are remembered by the novel’s narrator as ideal, but closer scrutiny repeatedly--and often humorously--complicates this innocent picture. In growing up we continually confront things that do not make sense. Then, in sudden moments of inspiration the pieces come together. For those growing up in the 1950s, the biggest mystery of childhood was sex. And central characters in this story, Mark Landon and Marcia Terrell, are repeatedly surprised as parts of this great puzzle take shape in and around them. We are determined to a large degree by the material world in which we live, our own bodies and the world around us. The landscape Mark Landon comes to appreciate contains the great promise this nation enjoyed after World War II. For those living west of the Mississippi especially, this prospect was symbolized by The Mother Road, Route 66.

Editorial Reviews

From the Back Cover

Michael Lund grew up in Rolla, Missouri. He received an A.B. from Washington

University in St. Louis (1967) and the Ph.D. in English from Emory University in Atlanta (1973). In 1970-71 he served as an Army correspondent in Vietnam. A scholar of nineteenth-century serial novels, he teaches college composition and literature. He and his wife of 31 years live in Virginia and are parents of two grown children.

About the Author

Mike Lund grew up in Rolla, Missouri. He received an A.B. from Washington University in St. Louis (1967) and the Ph.D. in English from Emory University in Atlanta (1973). In 1970-71 he served as an Army correspondent in Vietnam. A scholar of nineteenth-century serial novels, he teaches college composition and literature. He and his wife of 31 years live in Virginia and are parents of two grown children.

Product Details

• Paperback: 262 pages
• Publisher: BeachHouse Books (October 1, 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1888725311
• ISBN-13: 978-1888725315
• Product Dimensions: 7.9 x 4.7 x 0.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 9.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,026,781 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Looking Back on Growing Up, January 13, 2001

By 

Donna Breckenridge (Tucson, AZ USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Growing Up on Route 66 (Paperback)

If given the choice, I suspect that most people wouldn't really want to go back and relive those tumultuous, confusing years of adolescence. But wouldn't it be great if you could do it, knowing what you now know as an adult? You'd probably worry a little more about a few things, a lot less about most things, and you'd certainly have a lot more fun! That's what writer Michael Lund has done through his first novel, "Growing Up on Route 66." We get to experience all the intimate thoughts, embarrassing situations, comedic escapades, and triumphs of teenager Mark Landon and his friends, through the eyes of the adult Mark. Some things have changed since the 50s, and perhaps today's teenagers, sadly enough, aren't quite as naive as Mark. But his struggles and questions are still universal, and you'll have a great time reliving your own adolescence as you read about Mark's experiences. I wish I had known what those guys were thinking when I was Mark's age, and as the mother of two teenaged boys, I think I understand them a lot better after reading this book!

5.0 out of 5 stars A Road to Somewhere, January 6, 2001

By 

Geoffrey Orth (Farmville, VA USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Growing Up on Route 66 (Paperback)

While William Frank (Farmville Herald 12-22-00) speaks of the undeniable "moral content" in Lund's "novel of initiation," this reader, on the other hand, would argue that the novel fits more comfortably in the genre of the Antibildungsroman, a niche in the literary cavalcade heretofore filled by a few notable works, most prominent of which would be The Tin Drum of Gunter Grass. Here, Mark Landon, the midwestern Everyyouth, is enveloped by a repressive sexual environment which conspires against his sensual enlightenment in such an overpowering manner that his growth (or non-growth, as with Grass' Oskar) is best described as a hopeless status of sexual cluelessness until it flowers in--or, better yet, bumbles into--the unexpected climax described on pp. 256-58.

Lund's humorous conclusion, hinted at as early as the introduction, lends credence to the assumption that Landon will not change in any palpable way, but, unlike Oskar, whose stunted overall growth was at least partially compensated by a sexual development nonpareil, will remain largely unenlightened until the dawning of his middle age, when a belated epiphany of what had been going on around him his whole life finally sinks home at a time at which, ironically, he's too old to do much about it. The novel, however, does hint at the relevance of several as yet unexplored fields in Landon's life, such as his war experience and his subsequent embrace of the mysteries of Anglicanism.

Perhaps, an implied sequel will reveal whether this Everyyouth does at some belated point develop into an Everyman, and might also provide answers to such burning questions as whether Marcia Terrell, the novel's Everygirl and a refreshingly original character, overcomes the burdens of the same repressive environment by taking Route 66 to some pre-Title-IX form of the WNBA, or some other road equally appropriate for a liberated daughter of the American Midwest. We will wait and see.