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A review by annepw
An American Childhood by Annie Dillard
4.0
It's funny that I read this so soon after Michael Chabon's "Manhood for Amateurs," as the pair are preoccupied by many of the same themes and, of course, deeply tied to Pittsburgh. I also adore them both.
Superficially, my childhood was rather like Dillard's, insofar as we both grew up in comfortable middle-class white suburbs of Pittsburgh, and so I deeply appreciate the perspective she gives of the city in the 1950's. "An American Childhood" is one of the few memoirs ("Manhood" is another) that I have actually found worthwhile. While I think Dillard sentimentalizes the process of growing up, she is such a stylistic wizard that I would follow her to the ends of the earth.
Superficially, my childhood was rather like Dillard's, insofar as we both grew up in comfortable middle-class white suburbs of Pittsburgh, and so I deeply appreciate the perspective she gives of the city in the 1950's. "An American Childhood" is one of the few memoirs ("Manhood" is another) that I have actually found worthwhile. While I think Dillard sentimentalizes the process of growing up, she is such a stylistic wizard that I would follow her to the ends of the earth.