Customer Reviews

Voices of a Summer Day

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

 

 

Author Irwin Shaw doesn't strike a single false note as he takes the reader through the memories and daydreams of an ordinary man. The story's hero remembers with gentleness and humor the incidences of his boyhood and early life, including his war experiences and long marriage, that guided and shaped him into manhood. He struggles to understand how it can be that others -- some more deserving, others less -- managed to become 'members' of that elusive club: those who find meaning in their lives and a sense of connectedness to their families. Brilliantly written with insight, nostalgia and a self-deprecating humor, VOICES OF A SUMMER DAY illuminates not just the events, hopes and reactions of a single man, but of an entire generation.

Since Amazon hasn't posted an editorial review, here's the description from the cover to help you decide if this book is for you: "Four decades of American life are re-created through the dramatic reminiscences of Benjamin Federov, a typical yet very special man, son of Immigrant Jewish parents, a husband, a father, an admirer of women, a one-time soldier ... and finally, and always, his own man. Federov's story is relived while watching his teen-age son play baseball in the sunshine of a summer day. It tells of the intrigue and exultation of his first love affair, his war experiences, the volatile warmth of his marriage, and the special meaning of his infidelities. Through it all is his quest for a point of balance as he stands on the edge of conventional society, desirous of entering, refusing always to do so."