Wanda Hickey's Night of Golden Memories: And Other Disasters Summary and Reviews

Wanda Hickey's Night of Golden Memories: And Other Disasters
by Jean Shepherd

Wanda Hickey's Night of Golden Memories: And Other Disasters
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Book Summary Information

Author: Jean Shepherd
Edition: Paperback
Audio: English (Original Language); English (Unknown); English (Published)
Published: 1976-01-16
ISBN: 0385116322
Number of pages: 352
Publisher: Broadway

Book Reviews of Wanda Hickey's Night of Golden Memories: And Other Disasters

Book Review: Hohman, Indiana revisited.
Summary: 5 Stars

After reading the hilarious "In God We Trust: All Others Pay Cash" by Jean Shepherd, there was no doubt I had to read this gifted humorist's other books (fortunately, my local library carries them all). "Wanda Hickey's Night of Golden Memories: And Other Disasters" is a collection of short stories which further chronicle the growing-up years of Shepherd's alter ego in the mythical town of Hohman, Indiana along with Ma, the Old Man, and the ever-whining kid brother Randy. Our boy hero from "In God We Trust" is now a teenager, complete with puberty and dating. Only men can understand and identify with Shepherd's rich descriptions of falling head-over-heels for a girl, mustering enough courage to ask her out, and painstakingly preparing for "the big night", including the mishaps that accompany the whole process. In addition to memories of long-lost loves, Shepherd gives us the complete, unexpurgated story of the Bumpuses, those hillbilly neighbors whose 700-plus dogs were profiled in the motion picture "A Christmas Story". The reader is also treated to a day at the county fair and the family's yearly fishing trip. One short story in "Wanda Hickey's" actually takes place in the present, when our hero (now a grown man living in New York) receives a package from his mother one Christmas; what the package contains I will not reveal. Once again, Shepherd does an outstanding job blending "good ol' days" nostalgia with poignant satire; well-known staples of 1930s and '40s Americana become hopelessly pedestrian in his hands. Even the avant-garde, art-film culture of today's big city does not escape the satirist's wrath. Now that I have obviously recommended this book, it is time for me to move on to the next Jean Shepherd offering: "A Fistful of Fig Newtons".

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