Just Call Me Moose! Growing Up Italian in America [Paperback]

Karl R. Bossi (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: April 18, 2005

From the prattle on the cobblestone streets of Dorchester, a working class neighborhood of Boston, to the harrowing jungles of Vietnam, an era comes alive in the newly published memoir “Just Call Me Moose! Growing Up Italian in America”. Seventeen vintage photos enhance the narrative. This gritty memoir chronicles the vibrant life of Karl Bossi growing up Italian in a predominantly Irish and blue-collar neighborhood of Boston. Upon graduation from college Bossi left home for a career in the Air Force and lived in Japan, Vietnam, Spain and Turkey around bombs, bullets and booby traps. What follows is Karl’s 50-year journey to recognize that it was impossible to embrace his own life as long as he avoided his father’s death. Bossi's memoir, sometimes bitter, sometimes sweet, is a vivid and often humorous portrait of what it was like to grow up with poles-apart Italian-speaking parents. Only later does he understand that “Mum” never found the channel that Pop transmitted on, but not until he realizes that “Mum” wasn't much better when it came to tuning into her last son.

Editorial Reviews

Review

“...a powerful, poignant journey....takes the reader from the streets of Boston in the ’fifties to the jungles of Vietnam.” --Ron Della Chiesa , WGBH, Boston, February 1, 2005

“[I] was struck by the image of your mother bringing you her hair,...such an evocative and provocative image.” --Diane Freund, Associate Professor of English and Director of Creative Writing and Composition at the University of Arizona, March 4, 2005

“...will do for Italian-Americans what Angela’s Ashes did for Irish-Americans.” --G.L. Tassone, Novelist, short story writer, Pushcart Prize nominee, April 15, 2005

About the Author

Karl R. Bossi, a native of Boston, graduated from Northeastern University and left home for the U.S. Air Force. Bossi served in the Far East and Europe and led a bomb disposal team in Vietnam. He retired as a lieutenant colonel and became an aerospace logistic engineer. Bossi holds graduate degrees in counseling and guidance and procurement management, and is a published writer.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 256 pages
• Publisher: Gondola Press; 1 edition (April 18, 2005)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0975981110
• ISBN-13: 978-0975981115
• Product Dimensions: 8.4 x 5.4 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12.8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (20 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,108,456 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 One of a Kind Story, May 21, 2005

By 

Gigi "Joanne from Boston" - See all my reviews

This review is from: Just Call Me Moose! Growing Up Italian in America (Paperback)

I am enjoying this book so very much and find that I have to read and then re-read certain parts, for it brings back so much of my childhood after the Depression, WWII life, trips to Boston and Dorchester on the elevated trains.

It is just wonderful!

I stop so often to reminisce and I don't want to put it down! A reader doesn't have to be Italian-American for this story will appeal to many people, young and old alike.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Thanks Moose!, May 11, 2005

By 

Patrick Perry "pop perry" (DFW, TX USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Just Call Me Moose! Growing Up Italian in America (Paperback)

Received the book on Saturday and finished it on Sunday. Couldn't put it down. A very nice work! Well written - maybe Bossi should try a novel next if he's not already working on one! I really liked the opening and closing message, "In youth we learn; With age we understand". It provides the perfect context for the story. Would love to have met his Dad and "Mum".

This book is especially meaningful to those of us who have unexpectedly lost a parent and spent years wishing we had taken more time to talk with them. My guess is that people from the South Boston Area will have a special experience with this nostalgic view of the place they grew up. Two thumbs up for Karl Bossi!

Patrick Perry - DFW, TX

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An emotional and very insightful memoir, May 13, 2005

By 

Sam Donahue "Sam" (Phoenix AZ) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Just Call Me Moose! Growing Up Italian in America (Paperback)

"I could not put this book down once I got into it. A very telling tale of not only growing up in America over the last 60 years, but more importantly the emotional story of a boy losing his Father and having to deal with his loss. While the author was getting ready for his Prom he heard a shotgun blast...and what happens next will keep you turning the page until the end of this book. The rest of this story could be adapted for a screenplay as the events unfold into stunning insights as the author takes a lifetime to comprehend the depth of all its complex issues. My hats off to a very riveting memoir!"