An Open Book: Coming of Age in the Heartland [Hardcover]

Michael Dirda (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0393057569 | ISBN-13: 978-0393057560 | Publication Date: October 2003 | Edition: 1

A funny, wistful memoir by a Pulitzer Prize--winning critic that recalls the charm of Growing Up and the tenderness of One Writer's Beginnings. "ALL THAT KID WANTS TO DO is stick his nose in a book, " Michael Dirda's steelworker father used to complain, worried about his son's passion for reading. In An Open Book, one of the most delightful memoirs to emerge in years, the acclaimed literary journalist Michael Dirda re-creates his boyhood in rust-belt Ohio, first in the working-class town of Lorain, then at Oberlin College. In addition to his colorful family and friends, An Open Book also features the great writers and fictional characters who fueled Dirda's imagination: from Green Lantern to Sherlock Holmes, from Candy to Proust. The result is an affectionate homage to small-town America--summer jobs, school fights, sweepstakes contests, and first dates--as well as a paean to what could arguably be called the last great age of reading.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Pulitzer Prize-winning literary journalist Dirda takes a sentimental journey back to his 1950s and '60s childhood in the Midwestern steel town of Lorian, Ohio. The only boy of four children, he grew up in a blue-collar family with a "worried" mother and a father who "hated his lot in life with every particle of his moody, dissatisfied soul." To escape from home life and his own "dissatisfied and restless" feelings, the young Dirda sought solace in books, thus beginning a lifelong literary affair of unwavering intensity and curiosity. With total recall for themes, quotes, characters and plot lines, Dirda tirelessly records virtually every book he encountered in his young life, covering comic books, classics, poetry, mystery novels, high-brow literary criticism and soft-core erotica. It's an impressive accomplishment for anyone, but especially someone so young growing up in a house where neither parent read books (his father was "appalled at [Dirda's] bookishness") and money was scarce. Aided by his similarly nerdy classmates and friends and a string of supportive mentors, this "four-eyed, pasty-faced bookworm" evolved into a complicated, compelling kid: smug, pompous, self-doubting, insatiable. Dirda often tries readers' patience with mundane details of small-town geography and endless summaries of obscure texts, and toward the end of the book, there are a few cringe-worthy moments as he describes his crushes on various "sweet-fleshed young thing[s]" and the "sexual acts of unspeakable deliciousness" they inspire in his imagination. But this story of intellectual tenacity in middle America rises above its author's sometimes overly precious attempt at self-examination. Photos.
Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Booklist

No one answers the question, "What do you want to be when you grow up?" by saying, "A literary critic," but a deep need for story and an ardent love of books do shape lives. Dirda, columnist for the Washington Post Book World and a recipient of the Pulitzer Prize for his lucid, expert, and just criticism, traces the book-strewn path that led to his life as a literary journalist with a wistful sense of wonder and gratitude. In describing his boyhood in the small, blue-collar town of Lorain, Ohio, as the precocious, misfit son of a nurturing mother and an often gruff steel-mill worker father, Dirda is nearly hagiographic, which leads to some awkwardness; but once he starts writing about his mentors and the books that have enthralled and inspired him, simpatico readers will relish the refresher course his autobiography provides. As Dirda grapples with the questions that have engaged him for decades--Why read? Why do books matter?--his fellow book lovers will experience a renewal of their faith in literature. Donna Seaman
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 320 pages
• Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company; 1 edition (October 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0393057569
• ISBN-13: 978-0393057560
• Product Dimensions: 9.4 x 6.3 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #241,625 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #73 in Books > Biographies & Memoirs > Family & Childhood

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

24 of 24 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Warm Affirmation Of Life and The Joy Of Learning, October 4, 2003

By 

W. C HALL (Newport, OR USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: An Open Book: Coming of Age in the Heartland (Hardcover)

Michael Dirda's memoir of his growing up years is very personal, highly engaging, and by turns, wistful, sad and funny. We follow the Pulitzer Prize-winning critic from his birth in an Ohio mill town to the middle of his years at Oberlin College. His family, teachers and friends play significant roles in the story, but so do the books that fueled his imagination and shaped his destiny.

In an environment that was indifferent, if not hostile to books, Dirda discovered their ability to entertain, educate and uplift. His story is an affirmation of the argument that it doesn't matter what a child reads in the early years, just so long as he or she reads. Dirda quickly graduates from comics, Big Little Books and the like to more substantial fare. In fact, the list of classics in the back of the book that he had read by the end of high school would put most adult readers to shame. Though reading is at the heart of the story, there's a lot of classic childhood reminiscing here, including memorable incidents like his attempt to run away from home at age 14 and his awkward early journeys into the world of dating and romance.

This is a personal story that should have wide appeal, though I bet it will have a special resonance for those (such as this reviewer) who felt a little out of the maintstream during their growing up years because they "always had their nose in a book."

9 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Portrait of the Reader as a Young Man, July 24, 2004

By 

Charlus "charlus" (New York, NY USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: An Open Book: Coming of Age in the Heartland (Hardcover)

As I am a near contemporary of the author in age, I found an uncanny mirroring of my life in his...similar touchstones of products, events, TV shows, etc. many of which I had long forgotten. But what was the key pleasure of reading about this otherwise common life (and I throw myself in that descriptor as well)was the impact that various books had on him...something I could also identify with as another lifelong avid reader.

Dirda mentions book titles to show how they affected his imagination, his decisions, his way of looking at the world. For those who argue there is no concrete utility in reading and are satisfied that future generations are losing this habit, this book is the best argument to the contrary I know. Not that there is any solemnity to his story or any self-importance. His is a wry, affectionate tale of growing up in the straight-laced Midwest in the 50's. But it is his love of literature that irradiates his story. Recommended for those who want to remember why they love to read and how they got that way.

6 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Wonderful memoir, for avid readers or not, June 21, 2004

By 

Suzanne Amara (MA) - See all my reviews
(TOP 1000 REVIEWER)    (VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: An Open Book: Coming of Age in the Heartland (Hardcover)

It's a bit intimidating to write a review of a book by a book reviewer, but I have to try, as I loved this book so much! I have a long list of books to read in the future, and once one of them comes to the top, I sometimes have forgotten what it's going to be about, so this one came as a real treat. It tells of the author's childhood in Lorain, Ohio in the late 40s to the 60s, including his years at Oberlin. As an avid reader with many memories of the joy of childhood reading (although I was not as sophisticated in my tastes are Dirda!) it's always a treat to be brought back to the that wonderful feeling of having a pile of new books to read, from the library or thrift stores or the school book club! I enjoyed the list of books he had read through age 16 in an appendix. I felt better about my own youthful reading knowing we had both at least read a few of the same books, even the quite light Cheaper by the Dozen!

An added treat for me is that although I didn't know this would be the case when I started the book, I got much insight into the land of my own early childhood---I was born in Elyria, next to Lorain, although we moved when I was 6, and my parents both went to Oberlin, a bit earlier than Dirda. Earlier in the day I started this book, my mother for some reason told me of a time my father bought me shoes at Januzzi's, a shoe store I'd never heard of before---reading later that day of the author's own trip to Januzzi's was one of my most amazing reading moments of my lifetime! Any author who can create a scene of place like Dirda did with the Lorain of his childhood is truly gifted.

I am eager now to get my hands of Dirda's other book, Readings! Keep writing, Michael Dirda!!