Customer Reviews

The Pied Piper Of South Shore

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Having grown up in the Chicago South Shore neighborhood during the late 1940s and 1950s, I thought that book would be a great nostalgia trip. It was much more than that! The author wrote a true crime book in addition to a well-documented chapter on the changing urban landscape during 1960s. The book also covers small retail businesses and the wonderful toys available during that time period.

My South Shore High School class (Jan. '54) just had its 50th reunion and I've recommended the book to my classmates. But I feel that there is a wider audience in urban history buffs, true crime fans and anyone whose father had a local retail business.

Caryn Lazar Amster captures the joys of growing up in a urban environment and the sadness of losing a loved one to a senseless crime. I highly recommend the book.

The whole is truly greater than its enormous parts. This very personal, heart wrenching, heart warming book filled with fascinating history ultimately underscores the importance of respect and forgiveness. Ms. Amster's thorough research into varied areas - from her family origins to gang origins, from the history of toys to the history of the South Shore - amazes me. Caryn Lazar Amster, thank you. Your writing grabbed me and would not let me go. Your parents touched countless lives in such a positive way, by virtue of this book the number grows.

This book is a must-read. Not only is it the never-before-told story of a murder that changed a community, it is also a chilling account of how the Nation of Islam was formed in Chicago. Beginning on the day of the murder, the author, the daughter of the victim, reveals for the first time the horror of that day. She introduces readers to the victim, Manny Lazar, a beloved toy store owner nicknamed "The Pied Piper of South Shore." Verbatim excerpts from the trial offer real-life courtroom drama. The author's extensive research offers compelling and provocative insight into a murder trial where justice is the ultimate winner. Juxtaposed with the intensity of the crime is the reader's journey back in time to look at Mr. Lazar's merchandising techniques, his creative and fun-filled events at the toystore and his innovative retail strategies. The author also gives readers two bonuses: a catalogue of toys with anecdotal references to delight Baby-boomers, their children, and their parents, and a nostalgic trip, all mapped out, to the diverse neighborhood of Chicago's South Shore. The book's foreward is a loving tribute by actor-singer Mandy Patinkin (Princess Bride, Yentl, Chicago Hope, Broadway) who admired the toystore owner and his wife when Mr. Patinkin was a child and customer. I predict this story will be a major motion picture one day. (I hope Mandy Patinkin stars as the toystore owner, an extraordinary man.)
Carol Owens Campbell

This was a neat book about an icon of the South Shore and more accurately a story of a way of life that has dissappeared. Our family spent many hard earned dollars at Wee Folks over the years and were also merchants in the area (Holiday So Shore Florists). In addition to rekindling many wonderful personal memories of South Shore the book recalls the "innocence" of the 50s and 60s that was "neighborhood" Chicago and which was shattered by the growing violence of the late 60s and 70s. Manny Lazar's murder was truly a turning point in the "death" of a community and a way of life. Thanks to his daughter for retelling this family story that in many ways was about all of our lives.

If you LOVE Chicago's South Shore ....
If you've LIVED thru the 50's and the 60's ...
Or if you just LIKE toys, the retail business with a good story ...
Read this book!

I laughed and I cried as I read the history of Wee Folk's customers personal experiences, a murder trial and the history of my favorite toys, all artfully written by the daughter of Wee Folk's store owners. This would make a great gift for someone who was familiar with Chicago's South Shore neighborhoods.

This beautifully written book weaves three stories into one - the story of working class family living and thriving in a simpler time, when neighborhoods served as extended families; the story of the effect that gang proliferation had on city neighborhoods in the 60s and 70s; and the very personal story of a beloved father murdered in front of his wife in the business that he loved. The book puts the many social changes that occurred in the 60s and 70s into human scale, as seen through the eyes of a girl coming to age during these turbulent times. While I didn't grow up in South Shore, I lived in a very similar neighborhood populated with working class people from similarly diverse religious and ethnic backgrounds. For me, reading this book felt like coming home. The pictures painted of the neighborhood and the family life within will resonate in your heart if you're a baby boomer. The murder of the "Pied Piper" and the consequent trial, followed by the destruction of the neighborhood through gang activity is both facinating and incredibly touching, as you witness the innocence of the 50s and 60s being lost forever.

If you love a good true crime story, this one takes you from murder to conviction with lots of twists and turns. "The Pied Piper of South Shore, Toys and Tragedy in Chicago" is the true crime story of the tragic death of this beloved retailer, told in gritty detail by his elder daughter. It is the story of Manny and Belle, two children of immigrants, their American dream, and their richly diverse neighborhood-each falling prey to the brutality of gangs. Enhanced by her own recollections of working in her parents' store and the fond reminiscences of hundreds of customers, Caryn Lazar Amster's true tale is a heady ride from persecution in Russia to freedom in America, from Hula Hoops to gang members, from murder to trial. It is the story of loss but also of survival, even forgiveness. The story interweaves outside forces like racism, guns, drugs, gangs and the Nation of Islam that impacted this little store, the couple, and the neighborhood. It includes over 100 quotes from former customers who remember those years fondly, most especially Mandy Patinkin who writes the touching Foreward.

This book is so well written for a first time author. I can't wait to read her second book. This book evoked many emotions from me while I was reading it. It has so much in it: intrique, mystery, history, love, strength, forgiveness, perseverence, etc. I can't remember everything I want to from this book. So I must read it again!

This is the book to read if you're from a big city neighborhood in the mid-20th century. The story takes place in Chicago, but it could be a story from Brooklyn, the Bronx, or LA. From the family's immagration to America, to the tragic end of a beautiful neighborhood, you'll be absorbed by the story. "You shouldn't put it down until you finish!" Buy it, read it. It wouldn't hurt!