The Altar Boy Chronicles (Paperback)

~ (Author)
Key Phrases: perverse inversion, three aunts, photography magazines, Aunt Millie, City Hall, John Gillin (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Review

"This is the book Woody Allen would have written if he had been born into an Italian Catholic family. Anyone who has ever seen a Woody Allen film will quickly recognize the Angst that derives from the exercise of intellect in the midst of dogmas that hold no more meaning than a round-robin oration by the Three Stooges." -- From the Publisher

Product Description

The hilarious romp of a logical mind trying to grow up Catholic in Philadelphia's Little Italy during World War II. A quasi-autobiographical account of the peripubertal life of a boy who would grow up to be a skeptical philosopher and professional musician.

Did someone really set a pornographic stained-glass panel in a window of a Philadelphia Catholic church? Or did a preadolescent surge of hormones merely make it seem so? Can you really get syphilis off a toilet seat? How can a really good Catholic boy be thinking of sex all the time, yet have as his personal hero that zany third member of the Trinity -- the Holy Ghost? Can a child who is both brilliant and artistically gifted grow up Catholic -- and stay Catholic all the way?

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Product Details

• Paperback: 214 pages
• Publisher: American Atheist Press (March 15, 1999)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1578849535
• ISBN-13: 978-1578849536
• Product Dimensions: 8.4 x 5.5 x 0.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #1,004,108 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars a funny, iconoclastic, ribald, romp. GREAT!!, June 2, 1999

By A Customer

This book should be on every shelf in Philadelphia, in every Catholic family's library, and every man who, at one time, was a teen-ager. It reads in one risible, enjoyable, poignant evening. Wonderful!!

1 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars A bearable life story -- but it's 100 pages too long, January 30, 2001

By	Anthony R. Buccino (Nutley, NJ United States) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

All right, Tony Pasquarello says up front that this book is not about Altar Boy pranks, or other mischief that boys get into in his Philadelphia neighborhood.

And for the first 100 pages or so, the author's hindsight and commentary, although annoying, is tolerable, because the writing is crisp and sharp and you think it's going to take you somewhere interesting.

But when Tony hits puberty his urges take over not only the young boy, but this biography as well. Consider it a Portnoy's Complaint with pasta.

And there's the rub, pardon the pun, but how can anyone recommend this book to anyone else? You interested in history, or Italians in Philadelphia? Don't bother with this book - unless you just read the first 100 pages. As for the next 100 pages or so, it's so distracting, you'll lose any insight you might have found in the front of the book.

So, sadly, keep your mind blank and pass on The Altar Boy Chronicles.