Low Crimes and Misdemeanors is an R-rated collection of tales about a rowdy kid and his rowdy friends growing up in a rowdy time and placeTulsa, Oklahoma, in the forties and fifties.
Low Crimes and Misdemeanors: Confessions of a Tulsa Boy
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Book Description
Editorial Reviews
About the Author
Jeff Duncan teaches English at Eastern Michigan University. For years he wrote literary criticism, getting a Creative Writing Fellowship from the NEA for his efforts, then he wrote two textbooks. In the last twenty years he has written thirty plays, mostly for kids (he is Playwright-in-Residence at Wild Swan Theater, a multi-award-winning professional company in Ann Arbor), but also four R-rated dramas, one of which was named Best Play of the Year by the Ann Arbor News, plus the book and lyrics for several musicals and a libretto. More plays are in the works.
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More About the Author
Father of six, grandfather of seven, and husband of one, Jeff Duncan is a professor of English at Eastern Michigan University. For fifteen years he wrote literary criticism, and got a Creative Writing Fellowship from the National Endowment for the Arts for his efforts. But as lit crit got more and more mired in theory and riddled with jargon, he got more and more turned off, until finally he wrote a couple of freshman composition textbooks that touted the virtues and benefits of clarity and grace. Having no more to say about composition, he began writing plays, dirty plays for grownups, clean plays for kids--dramas and comedies, the books and lyrics for musicals (two of them in the style of English Christmas Pantomime), a revue about baseball, and a very un-grand libretto for an opera. To date he has had some thirty works produced in Michigan, Illinois, Ohio, and Kentucky. One of his dramas was dubbed "Best Play of the Year" by the Ann Arbor News, and he is Playwright in Residence at Wild Swan Theater, a professional children's theater group that has won a slew of awards. As a change of pace, and to set the record straight, he wrote LOW CRIMES AND MISDEMEANORS. At the moment he is working on a musical based on the story of Abraham and Sarah, and he is writing lyrics that he hopes his youngest son will use in his rock band.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Really, Jeff, the Carolina Hotel?,
By
This review is from: Low Crimes and Misdemeanors: Confessions of a Tulsa Boy (Paperback)
I went to Jr. High and High School with Jeff and later married his best friend, John (Johnny in the book). But even I hadn't heard all these stories. I laughed, I cried, I wished I had known Jeff and John better in school--though I am sure my parents would have been appalled if I had. The stories are great; the dialog is just exactly what a Tulsa teenager sounded like. I recognized many of the places. Well, not the Carolina Hotel. I also realized how protected my own teenage years had been in comparison. I was worried about reading a friend's book about his own childhood. What could I say if I didn't like it? But I couldn't put it down. It wasn't just because I knew so many of the characters; it was the authenticity of it. I could smell the chalk on the blackboards, the teenage pheromones in the halls of Will Rogers High, the stale beer and worse. I could hear the wild laughter of those boys. I could feel the camaraderie. And I remembered the pains and joys of my own school years. Thanks, Jeff. I have a feeling I will read this book more than once, maybe once a year. 1957 Rocks.
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
One of My All Time Favorites,
This review is from: Low Crimes and Misdemeanors: Confessions of a Tulsa Boy (Paperback)
I was into this book by the second paragraph. I hate to type cast "Low Crimes" because it is a great read at many levels. It is hilarious: I laughed out loud reading in a room by myself and that almost never happens to me because I am a very angry person. It is provoking: Duncan is a gifted narrator and his stories use the setting to speak about a different place and time, so different than modern suburbia yet so much the same. Like Nan above, I too thought back to reading S.E. Hinton's Tulsa-setting teen angst novels during an obvioulsy literary-challenged childhood and wish S.E. had Duncan's narration skills. Great story, great setting, not too many big words. Perfect.
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Incredible! Right up there with Angela's Ashes!,
This review is from: Low Crimes and Misdemeanors: Confessions of a Tulsa Boy (Paperback)
Don't miss Low Crimes and Misdemeanors by Jeff Duncan, the story of this tough and crazy-wild child of the Bible belt of the South. By the age of four he was already creating continuous havoc for the adults of his family, school and community. Who would have believed Jeffrey would survive to graduate from high school? Not me--a very good girl and contemporary from the Bible belt of the North. This all-American kid (very appealing mugs on the cover!), apparently starved for genuine excitement and terror, tells his x-rated story with such life and heart that you cannot stop reading and re-reading and wishing for more...Don't lend this book--just buy extra copies to give your friends--You won't be able to retell these stories with the honest spot-on skill and integrity of the author!
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