A great story of a great period of growing up.

books:


	• Stop-Time: A Memoir Frank Conroy Penguin (Non-Classics), 1977 - 288 pages average customer review:based on 13 reviews view larger image
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highly recommended

A great story of a great period of growing up.

I picked this up around '69 when I was 14-15 and what a great book to read at that time of my life.
I still have my original copy which is falling apart. I'd love to know how many times I've read it.
Its simply a great book.

Blows Me Away

What blows me away about "Stop Time" is the ability of the author to capture moments of childhood magic in the midst of a story that makes its existence showing the hollow emptiness of young adulthood. It also is impressively devoid of any overabundance of self-pitty, yet aptly captures a feeling of isolation and loneliness. There are inherent similarities to other notable titles that capture the growing pains of coming of age: "Catcher in the Rye", "Lord of the Flies", "My Fractured Life", and "A Complicated Kindness." There is a strange salvation in the lyrical bleakness.

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A masterful essayist

At first, I was challenged by Conroy's use of section breaks; I was looking for congruency and thru-line. But when I went back and re-read chapters, wonderful and magical things started happening on a subconscious level. It's like having disjointed dreams that are thematically different, and when you wake up, you can't remember them, but have a particular feeling, perhaps an insight based on some common denominator. Conroy demonstrates this kind of disjointed insight throughout the book, making Stop Time a favorite read and Conroy, in my opinion, a masterful essayist.

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Classic American memoir

Conroy has been compared to Holden Caulfield, but Stop-Time, of course, is memoir - not fiction. Also, Conroy's writing is understated, haunting, and lyrical, even when he's talking about pretty brutal and gritty stuff. It's a must-read for anyone who wants to study the art of the memoir. First published in 1967, it still rings with the truth of boyhood and adolescence during a certain time in America.
The facts are not so terribly remarkable: He grew up poor, was bright but didn't do well in school, moved around a lot, his father died when he was 12, and he didn't get along with his stepfather (who, after Conroy's mother left, moved an insane girlfriend into the home). Okay, all that makes a good enough tale - but what really elevates it to high art is Conroy's skill as a writer, his ability to take a teensy memory or detail and expand it into something utterly remarkable.
Read it.

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reviews: page 1, 2, 3

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