Haven Kimmel recounts her childhood in Mooreland, Indiana, a town of three hundred people during the 1960s and 70s. Nicknamed Zippy for her speed, she navigates a landscape defined by eccentric family members and small-town oddities. The narrative follows her interactions with a father who gambles on professional sports, a mother who retreats into books and cigarettes, and a cast of neighbors including a blind woman and various farm animals. Kimmel focuses on specific episodes, such as being briefly bald or trying to understand the social hierarchies of her rural community.
This memoir is intended for those interested in mid-century American regional life and non-linear storytelling. Readers choose this book for its humor and its refusal to frame a small-town upbringing through the lens of tragedy or trauma. It provides a detailed look at the sensory details of the Midwest and the internal logic of a child. One walks away with a clear picture of how boredom and imagination shape an early identity when isolated from urban culture.
Inward-looking and clear-cut; an easy read.
Best for readers like The Escapist Adventurer. Which reader are you?
- Published
- 2001
- Language
- EN
