2-18-19 – Felix
My interest in this work was personal. The author is someone I knew of while growing up in the area he tells about in the book (Coeymans, in upstate New York). Reading the book brought a flood of memories from my childhood. I went to school with many of the people that he talks about, including one of his sisters. James was a good friend of my older brother, and played baseball with him on a Legion team managed by my father.
James presents the people, places, and experiences he had growing up with a perspective I missed, primarily due to our difference in skin color and cultural background, and the privilege I unknowingly lived within. He presents this information almost in a stream of consciousness manner, with plenty of detail about how he felt about many things that happened to him in his life — from the death of a baby sister, to living in poverty in company-provided homes with few modern amenities, struggling to provide food and clothing, working from a very young age to help his family get by, and the importance of family, friends, and community in that struggle.
This is a powerful book. It is a testament to the author’s strength of character and ambition to succeed, along with his understanding of how life experience shapes us all. To paraphrase what one of his old friends said about it, at least maybe some good can come from Coeymans after all.
Felix – Delaware
Rating – 4 STARS