Customer Reviews

From Rockaway (Vintage Contemporaries)

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

 

 

I found this book at a garage sale, and I immediately bought it becuase I live in rockaway and I am I teenager. Much like the people potrayed in this story, I too am worried I will never "get out of Rockaway". Plenty of my friends go to the same bars and hangouts as the characters do, and at times we all have the same sense of hopelessness. I am a recent graduate of St. Francis de Sales, as are the characters. I just felt the book potraed a portion (not all) of Rockaway's youth very well and I find it one of my favorite books so far.

You know, I bought about a dozen copies and sent them as holiday gifts to my buddies from FR... but if you had not grown up on the peninsula, the story wouldn't mean that much...

The author has an excellent memory and accurate perspective of life in Rockaway's, but a weak story line.

If you spent anytime between Bayswater and Belle Harbor, you'll get a bunch of smiles from this book -

Good book. Takes place in a time of innocence, before plane crashes in Belle Harbor and NYC. Being From Rockaway myself, I'm a bit biased. Having grown up on 117th and the boardwalk (where much of the book takes place), I can picture the locales, as well as relate to select characters. As a teenager, I too spent my summer days surfing and nights drinking on the beach. A keg and a bonfire... we used the lifeguard chairs for firewood, would run from the police. Fun fun fun. Book being true to life, there really was nothing else to do in Rockaway. My old building overlooked the lifeguard "shack" on 117th, so I got a first-hand view of what went on. They are a different breed for sure.

"From Rockaway" accrately captures the flavor of '80s Rockaway Beach, NY-- through the eyes of local teens bored out of their skulls, looking for excitement. I'd recommend it to anyone who grew up in Rockaway and can remember Playland-- before it became a housing development.

I read this book afer i moved out of Rockaway,i think she explianhow everything is in Rockaway.I've found the book to be woundful and read it many times.The parties,the beach i have to say it made me miss Rockaway very much and the fun times we used to have.So I would tell anybody to get this book and enjoy as much as i have.

A friend lent me this book and I immediately started to read it. Once I got into the book I realised how true it really was. I am a resident of Rockaway, NY, and there are plenty of residents just like Chowderhead and ALex. They do the same things the characters do and feel the same way. I believe Jill Eisenstadt did a wonderful job of depicting life in Rockaway, NY, for a shoxkingly large portion of the teenage community. This book should be read by every resident of Rockaway, NY, to hear the truth.

Jill's recount of her days as a lifeguard on Rockaway bch was both depressing and flat. (especially considering the stories potential) She worked and was friends with fellow rockawaites, but was so convinced she was better than everyone else that rather than see the individuality and intrigue of each of her characters, she wrote page after page about how culturally and mentally linear each was. She introducted wacky characters who could have been fun and the reader, if they wanted, could have deduced were drunks. However, by Jill telling us that there was nothing we could possibly gain from these close-minded, local "drunks", the reader is forced to ask, "why bother reading about them?"

As someone who personally knows all the characters in the book, I was disappointed that Jill missed such a wonderful opportunity to explore the quirkiness of the people and the neighborhood. These characters have depth not explored by the author. There are many rich and funny stories to be told, perhaps by someone who was a little closer to the action and could tell the story with a level of identification not evidenced in the book.

I found an old paperback copy of this work in a used book store in Brooklyn. At first, I was intrigued because I live in Rockaway. However, as I began reading the author's narratives, I began to realize that the author herself cannot be from Rockaway. All her characters, whether imagined or based on her "friends", are quite depressing and truly have no hope. If that was her intention, to analyze why such depression exists in those who live in a non-connected, sub-intellectual location, she truly made her point. I just wish that she never used Rockaway as her muse.

I found an old paperback copy of this work in a used book store in Brooklyn. At first, I was intrigued because I live in Rockaway. However, as I began reading the author's narratives, I began to realize that the author herself cannot be from Rockaway. All her characters, whether imagined or based on her "friends", are quite depressing and truly have no hope. If that was her intention, to analyze why such depression exists in those who live in a non-connected, sub-intellectual location, she truly made her point. I just wish that she never used Rockaway as her muse.