Customer Reviews

Two Cents Plain: My Brooklyn Boyhood

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4 star:		(14)
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This is an immersive visit to the author's Brooklyn childhood, depicted over a backdrop of history. From his parents' exodus from post-war Poland to his family's exodus from a beloved but forever changed Brooklyn, Martin Lemmelman takes us into a fascinating past from a child's point of view. The omnipresent nostalgia of this work is tempered with brutal honesty. For every fond reminisce there is the depiction of a painful memory to balance it. But the warm and affectionate artwork paints a picture of a fleeting, bygone era, in which the author clearly feels lucky, on balance, to have played a part, despite the pain and trauma he experienced.

Apart from feelings, there is invaluable information about the Yiddish culture prevalent in the author's boyhood home town. If you read Hebrew, you'll appreciate the signage and newspapers depicted in backgrounds.

I loved this book, and suspect I'll read it again before long. It's a good yarn and a fascinating read. Recommended for adults and teens with any interest in Jewish or American history.

Martin Lemelman tells the story of his childhood in Brooklyn in the form of a truly creative graphic novel. The child of holocaust survivors who owned a candy store in the Brownsville section of Brooklyn, Lemelman's parents had not only to deal with the trauma of World War II, they also had to endure the disintegration of their close-knit Brooklyn neighborhood during the urban turmoil of the nineteen-sixties. I was reminded of two other books while reading "Two Cents Plain": Alfred Kazin's "Walker in the City," a beautifully written reminiscence about his childhood in Brownsville and Art Speigelman's "Maus," a graphic novel about his father's experience during the Holocaust. Lemelman's book really holds its own; it's totally engrossing. Lemelman uses his artistic talent to re-create the world of his childhood during the fifties and sixties, a world that's gone forever. His loving, humorous and astute portrait of his hard-working parents is original and engrossing.

Two Cents Plain, My Brooklyn Boyhood is an unforgettable book and deserves a place on the bookshelf alongside some of the great Jewish coming of age/awakening novels such as Henry Roth's Call It Sleep, Philip Roth's Good-bye Columbus and Bernard Malamud's The Assistant. For anyone interested in what it was like to grow up Jewish in America in the 50s and 60s, this book is a must. Also a must read for history buffs, as well as for readers who are interested in Holocaust survivors and what became of them when they settled in the USA. Mr. Melman's drawings are as beautiful and detailed and memorable as his writing. I know it's a cliche, but I couldn't put this book down. Weeks after reading this memoir, many of its images and lines replay in my mind. Not only a great book, but a heck of a Hanukkah present for someone you love. Buy it. Share it. You'll be glad you did.

I was deeply moved by Two Cents Plain, which I read in one day. This is a graphic memoir recounting the author's boyhood in Brooklyn in the 1950s and 60s, with intimate portraits of his immigrant parents who survived the Second World War in Eastern Europe and emigrated due to lingering antisemitism. They run a shop, and the book describes and visually portrays in great detail the items they sold, the customers, the neighborhood, their living conditions, and the changes in the neighborhood over time, as well as the family members' relationship s with one another. In short, it's a remarkable account of first generation Jewish life in 1950s Brooklyn, told as a coming of age story. There's no real plot to speak of, beyond what I've just said. The interest is in the loving portrayal of a lifestyle, the history of a neighborhood now gone, and the personalities of the individuals involved.

I'm sure my reaction was based in large part on the overlap between my boyhood and the author's, although in many ways they weren't very similar. I'm several years younger than the author, my parents were both born in the U.S. and were professionals, not shopkeepers, and we didn't live surrounded by immigrants. Nevertheless, I was amazed at the memories this book brought back of life in the 50s and 60s in New York. The author not only illustrates the book beautifully--he's an exceptional artist--but includes many photographs of miscellaneous items from those days, such as little toys or candies his parents sold in their shop, that epitomized childhood for me, but which I hadn't seen or thought about for decades. My own parents were well educated and spoke fine English, but occasionally used yiddish expressions they'd picked up from their immigrant parents. Such expressions are used throughout Two Cents Plain, and I'm sure my mother would get a kick out of seeing that they haven't disappeared completely, unlike the neighborhood the author grew up in.

Think you've read just about every Jewish memoir out there? Maybe you have....but this one goes beyond printed words on a page, with personal illustrations, as well as some copies of actual photos, that make the book rich and multi-faceted. It is a quick read, mainly because the words are relatively few. But that doesn't make this work any less resonant. The author starts with family history and, as might be expected, this includes Holocaust history, deep and searingly painful. Again, perhaps nothing new, but seeing the faces of family members as they recount their memories, tore at my heart. Everything described became far more immediate, more real. I'd go so far as to consider this a collector's item and believe it will come to be even more appreciated in years to come. It is unique and special.

The 1950s covers much of the period in this book and the life lived by Martin and his brother and parents is spartan. His parents run a candy store (which eventually becomes a combination of ice cream parlor and hardware store, filled to the brim with all sorts of objects). Meanwhile, the family lives in the back of the store in a space crammed with boxes of merchandise. They struggle to make a living but do get by, with one son sleeping by a noisy refrigerator and the other sharing space in his parents' bedroom. Martin's mother and father have a turbulent relationship but they stick together and when their love is tested they come through for each other.

One of the most poignant parts of this book was seeing how the neighborhood changed from a vibrant Jewish area to one which eventually became a historic relic. As a child, Lemelman's world was bordered by Kosher markets, carts full of fruit seller, noisy streets lined by vendors selling all sorts of wares. But as the neighborhood changes, his parents are among the few holdouts until a crucial incident shakes them to the core. Again, this book doesn't take long to read (although I did linger on many of the pages, taking in both words and drawings) but it is likely to leave a lasting impression.

This isn't a story of coming to America and striking it rich. Instead, this is a realistic look at a family who has ups and downs and eke out a living as best they can. Their resilience and dignity while running Teddy's Candy Store was an inspiration to me, even though Lemelman portrays a gritty world, even including the cockroaches and rats that went after the food and ice cream in the store. Many of the sections start with Yiddish sayings, an extra layer that added much to this book. Highly recommended!

Lemelman does a beautiful job of recounting his growing up years in a child-like format--the comic book. But the content is anything but childlike--the horror of his parents losing so many family members in the holocaust, the struggle of starting over multiple times, the chaos of growing up in the back of a store, the tragedy of change catching up with them again as their neighborhood in the city gradually turns into a violent and threatening place in the sixties all are dramatized in this book. After reading this graphic account, and seeing his world through his haunting drawings and collages, I feel I have grown up with Lemelman and understand the forces that shaped his family and upbringing.

I highly recommend this book. After reading it, I immediately ordered a copy of Mendel's Daughter: A Memoir--a book I had read about in the past, but never gotten my hands on. You won't be disappointed with Two Cents Plain. In fact, after reading it, I predict you will be seeking out more of the children's books the adult book, and the magazine articles written by this haunting author.

When I chose this book I guess I missed the fact that it was going to be graphic as in told in pictures. It is like an adult comic book although it is serious and funny at times. The drawing are great and the whole book is a fast and easy read. You learn so much about Martin's life and that of his parents. Somehow having the pictures helps you keep the story really alive in your mind. The picture are all black and white drawings. Being into art myself I have this desire to color them all in. There are real life pictures of his family woven in with the drawings.

I had to laugh out loud when he took the spray whipping cream and as squirting in his mouth, this was from the soda counter not at home. Fess up now who has not done that at least once? Martin's family had a hard start in America after escaping from the Nazi's in WWII. His father went from job to job trying to set up a good life for the family.

At times I wonder why he talks in not so proper English but then I thought well he was first generation in the USA from Europe. So that would be how his family talked in those early years. It is very touching at times and also makes you remember the Holocaust and just how far reaching those scars go even to this day.

The illustration of his circumcision is a bit comical. I'm sure not for him at the time.

He tells the stories from his heart and when you look into the eyes of his parents in photo's you see way beyond just a snapshot.

I really enjoyed this most unusual book. Anyone who likes history and autobiographies will like this book.

You can read it in just a few hours and you will be richer for the experience.

It was riveting - and with almost every page I wanted to grab the next person who walked by and share with him what I had just read/seen. Not exactly a graphic novel, not really an autobiography...Two Cents Plain is more like a sketchbook memoir, a graphic scrapbook. Lemelman's re-telling of his parents' stories, in their own voices, was heartbreaking, yet funny at the same time; for example, his pop's bitter yet dryly humorous commentary was at perfectly pictured counterpoint to the author's remembrances of actual emotional abuse of his mum. Despite the somewhat horrific events, large and small, that made up his family history, and his personal past, I still found myself entertained and even laughing at the almost gentle and certainly circumspect portrayal of a life and times different from my own. This little volume is well worth the slightly more than two cents of the title.

Having grown up in a Catholic family in the 1970's, my world was very different than the one Martin describes in 1950's Brooklyn, NY. Though I found the beginning a tad bit slow with all of the family introductions, the story itself was told in a kind and sensitive way that taught me much about what it was like to live as a Jewish family during those times and how it goes far beyond what is typically portrayed in the movies. I loved the way Martin continuously described the sense of the local community, though I did not always love/and or agree with some of the Yiddish sentiments such as "Don't climb so high so you won't have to fall." and "It's hard to make a living" which are scattered throughout the book.

The book is illustrated beautifully and I am particularly fond of the stories about how Martin became an artist by finding the old unwanted art supplies in the store. I am very sad to see the way the story of how the candy shop ended... but am thankful that Martin told the story.

Highly recommended.

I was torn between four or five stars for Two Cents Plain. Since I ordered Mendel's Daughter: A Memoir immediately on finishing this book I went with five. Lemelman perfectly captures not just a place and time, but the tone of that time. His voices ring true, his experiences ring true, he keeps the child's perspective at appropriate ages for the things he describes. His art style is less mannered than many graphic novels but it serves the story. It's like flipping through a scrapbook with sketches instead of photos while the whole family narrates.

A child of holocaust (but not camp) survivors, Martin grew up in Brooklyn during a period of social change. His father wants what he thinks he had in the past, his mother just wants to move forward without anything bad ever happening to her family again. Lemelman writes a love letter to his old life that doesn't forget the negative but places it in the larger context of his life. Did they have rats? Yes, but young Martin also had unlimited art supplies. If I were to fault Two Cents Plain on anything it might be it's glossing over of real race issues. It is racial conflict that displaces his parents from Eastern Europe and it is ultimately racial conflict that displaces them again, this time from Brooklyn. While Martin indicates that he sees no difference between himself as a boy and the boy who lives on his block today, he also takes pains to point out that Malcolm X incited anti-jewish actions. This is true. He shows how confused he was as a boy when black 'friends' became distant and cold. A brief aside on why might have balanced the book out better, As it stands, the displacement of his parents for the second time lacks context.

Two Cents Plain is an outstanding jewish memoir, a great coming of age in Brooklyn story and one of my graphic novels for the year. I'm going to make my tween read it next.