Customer Reviews

Making My Way

5 star:		(8)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Terry Shappee gives us a child's view of the rich tapestry of life on the Oregon coast in the forties and fifties. There, despite the hardships and financial struggles of his family, he learned the values he now teaches us in Making My Way. Mr. Shappee presents a collection of memories that reveal more about him, and ultimately all of us, than the great issues and worldwide problems that fill so many of the books in our bookstores and the television screens in our homes.

Reading "Making My Way" is like glimpsing into a later day Tom Sawyer or Huck Finn, or walking down one of the streets in "Cannery Row". The story takes one back to a time not too long ago, but a time that might be forgotten. You see life in the Northwest at a time when the world was going through one of it's most trying times. You are able to share a young man's life growing up in those times. This should be required reading for all school children. If it weren't for stories like "Making My Way" our past with all of it's good qualities would be lost. A must for everyone who wishes to experience those bygone days. -- Sam Younghans, Actor/writer 4/10/99

Rudy Shappee paints a picture of childhood and family with broad brushstrokes of love in his book, "Making My Way." He is magnanimous in making allowances for the foibles of people that he grew up with in a rural Oregon coastal town during the middle of the century. The values and basic skills, that he learned as a boy, are universal to the survival of any society.

He writes of loyalty, humor, and comradeship among boyhood friends along with the danger and beauty of an unforgiving sea that provided the family livelihood. His parable of wartime generosity, when people strayed on the other side of the law to feed neighbors, asks the question, is it better to follow the letter of the law, or follow the dictates of the heart?

Laugh and cry as you get caught up in this world of secret rooms,adventures, odd jobs, and loss of a first love, in a boy's journey to manhood.

If you want to rekindle memories of your own childhood, or read about how you wish your childhood had been, read this book.

"Making My Way" is a nostalgic trip back to small town America of the 40s and 50s. Feels good when high tech and millennium headlines furrow the brow. Shappee, born in 1939, soaked up character, backbone and indelible memories in Warrenton, Oregon and other towns along the magic coastline. In this memoir, Shappee shares personal memories of his family, of early homes and chums. His dad was a fisherman, gone for long periods, so mom did the raising. In his teens, Shappee got to help his dad prepare the boat for long runs to the Columbia River and the Pacific. One home sat across from the general store and gas station at Newton's Corners, a pefect spot for curious, young eyes and ears. The author shows what really brought indoor plumbing home. "The biggest bear I had ever seen," had trapped his mother in the outhouse. A flashlight and screwdriver helped young Shappee discover a forgotten, boarded-up library in one house; including books with pictures of body parts! We ride along as the boy gains his sea legs aboard his father's boat in heavy seas, and smell the printer's ink during his first newspaper days on the hometown Columbia Beacon. All

Rudolph Shappee grew up hard scrabble and he learned from all of his experiences. This book takes the reader along a path not followed by many in Shappee's generation and not available to younger generations. He tells of a time when kids were free to roam and to learn. Better, of a time when kids had to provide their own entertainment by using their own minds. Young readers can learn a lot by reading this book.

Gee, how refreshing: a book without violence or obscenities! Wonderful stories of growing up - really takes you back to a more innocent time, if you're over forty. Lovely reminiscences. No huge problems solved here, just a nice walk back in time to meet a "good guy" in the growing-up process.

This book was written by my history teacher at Scripps Ranch High School. He has shared many of stories with us in class, and I would recommend reading this!

Rudolph Terry Shappee grew up along the coast of Oregon during the Depression and the World War II years. His family lived in 19th-century fashion not from choice but because of poverty; they were poorer than the Waltons but just as happy. Shappee, a retired Navy Chief Warrant Officer who served in Vietnam, wrote this memoir to show a consumer-oriented modern society that family harmony can exist under dire circumstances. His family worked in the fisheries while living at Newton's Corners. The neighbors helped each other, particularly a young couple who were seperated by the war when he was called to service. During the 1950s, the Shappees moved to Warrenton, where Rudolph spent the majority of his childhood. Both of his parents decided that a better life existed for them if they left the fisheries and canneries and worked for the Singer Sewing Machine Company in Tillamook, Oregon. "Making My Way" resembles many of those nostalgic memoirs of family life, a la "Cheaper by the Dozen," "Chicken Every Sunday," and "The Egg and I" which were a staple of publishing in the post-World War II decade. The charm of this book is that it reminds a present generation that it wasn't so long ago that America was not so prosperous, that most people accomplished things without electronic tools, and that social organization was prized as a necessity and not a sentimental idea.

Rudy Shappee paints a picture of childhood and family with broad brushstrokes of love in his book, "Making My Way." He is magnanimous in making allowances for the foibles of people he grew up with in a rural Oregon coastal town during the middle of the century. The values and basic skills that he learned as a boy, are universal to the survival of any society.

He writes of loyalty, humor, and comradeship among boyhood friends along with the danger and beauty of an unforgiving sea that provided the family livelihood. His parable of wartime generosity, when people strayed on the other side of the law to feed neighbors, asks the question, is it better to follow the letter of the law, or follow the dictates of the heart?

Laugh and cry as you get caught up in this world of secret rooms, boyhood adventures, odd jobs, and loss of a first love, in a boy's journey to manhood.

If you want to rekindle memories of your own childhood or learn about how you wish your childhood had been, read this book

Though I grew up in a different time and region, I found myself comparing my own life to young Terry's. Adventure and discovery of his world and himself brouth me back to my times of adventure and discovery and though life was difficult for me too, I realized how great my childhood was. You will truly love this book.