Take the Long Way Home by Susan G. Lydon  (3)
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Editorial Reviews
From Publishers Weekly
In 1945 Samuel Gordon, an electrician, returned home to the Bronx in New York City after the close of World War II and began his search for the American dream by moving with his wife Eve and daughter Susan to suburban Long Island. In this moving, perceptive social history, Katz ( The Big Store: Inside the Crisis and Revolution at Sears ) traces the lives of the Gordon family, which swelled to include two more daughters and a son, to the year 1990, revisiting the cultural changes of four decades. The Gordon children, to their parents' occasional distress and bewilderment, flirted with political activism and addictive drugs, knew both marriage and divorce and found New Age religion. Their son Ricky "came out"--happily gay. Katz's objective yet compassionate approach to their story makes riveting reading and fosters the conclusion that upheaval and trauma are as integral to families as love. 50,000 first printing; $65,000 ad/promo; first serial to Esquire; author tour.
Copyright 1992 Reed Business Information, Inc.
From Library Journal
Using the true story of a typical American family to encapsulate major social, cultural, and political developments in the United States from the end of World War II until 1991 appeals as an idea but suffers here in execution. Esquire columnist Katz ( The Big Store , LJ 10/15/87) deals only patchily with the larger forces at work in America's evolution over a half-century. It could be argued that the experiences of a Jewish family from New York City and suburban Long Island are hardly typical of all the nation's families, but in any case the relentless pursuit of the Gordons' story--year after year, for 600 pages of flat, semifictionalized prose--becomes tedious long before the book's close. This hybrid brings out the weaknesses rather than the strengths of its elements. Not recommended. First serial to Esquire ; previewed in Prepub Alert, LJ 2/1/92.
- Harry Frumerman, formerly with Hunter Coll., CUNY
Copyright 1992 Reed Business Information, Inc.
See all Editorial Reviews
In 1945 Samuel Gordon, an electrician, returned home to the Bronx in New York City after the close of World War II and began his search for the American dream by moving with his wife Eve and daughter Susan to suburban Long Island. In this moving, perceptive social history, Katz ( The Big Store: Inside the Crisis and Revolution at Sears ) traces the lives of the Gordon family, which swelled to include two more daughters and a son, to the year 1990, revisiting the cultural changes of four decades. The Gordon children, to their parents' occasional distress and bewilderment, flirted with political activism and addictive drugs, knew both marriage and divorce and found New Age religion. Their son Ricky "came out"--happily gay. Katz's objective yet compassionate approach to their story makes riveting reading and fosters the conclusion that upheaval and trauma are as integral to families as love. 50,000 first printing; $65,000 ad/promo; first serial to Esquire; author tour.
Copyright 1992 Reed Business Information, Inc.
From Library Journal
Using the true story of a typical American family to encapsulate major social, cultural, and political developments in the United States from the end of World War II until 1991 appeals as an idea but suffers here in execution. Esquire columnist Katz ( The Big Store , LJ 10/15/87) deals only patchily with the larger forces at work in America's evolution over a half-century. It could be argued that the experiences of a Jewish family from New York City and suburban Long Island are hardly typical of all the nation's families, but in any case the relentless pursuit of the Gordons' story--year after year, for 600 pages of flat, semifictionalized prose--becomes tedious long before the book's close. This hybrid brings out the weaknesses rather than the strengths of its elements. Not recommended. First serial to Esquire ; previewed in Prepub Alert, LJ 2/1/92.
- Harry Frumerman, formerly with Hunter Coll., CUNY
Copyright 1992 Reed Business Information, Inc.
See all Editorial Reviews
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Citations
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11
books
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- Teenagers: An American History by Grace Palladino in Back Matter (1), and Back Matter (2)
- Out of the Noosphere: Adventure, Sports, Travel, and the Environment: The Best of Outside Magazine by Editors Outside magazine in Back Matter
- Just Do It: The Nike Spirit in the Corporate World by Donald R. Katz in Back Matter
- New Jersey Dreaming: Capital, Culture, and the Class of 58 by Sherry B. Ortner in Back Matter
- Living Inside Our Hope: A Steadfast Radical's Thoughts on Rebuilding the Movement (ILR Press Books) by Staughton Lynd in Back Matter
See all 11 books citing this book