Bruce Eric Kaplan, known to fans of his New Yorker cartoons as BEK, charms with this quirky, doodle-adorned memoir of his formative years.
Born in 1964, Kaplan had the type of childhood that has quickly gone from the norm to nostalgic memory. Instead of structured play dates, children knocked on each other's doors and played outside until dark. Cell phones, cordless phones and even answering machines belonged to the future. Television reception came from a foil-wrapped antenna, and no one's parents exercised. Movie theaters seemed like "magical temples," and baseball cards came with bubblegum so dry it disintegrated in your hands.
In this unusual and captivating account, Kaplan sketches out a complete portrait of a bygone era with just a few well-chosen words and drawings. "I think a lot of us are born waiting to be adults." The clarity of Kaplan's memories suggests a childhood spent in keen observation of surroundings and behavior made alien by his inexperience or simply by genuine oddity, as in the case of his father's secret, never-worn toupee. He perfectly captures the viewpoint of a child; what is simply is, usually with no explanation. His understated tone conveys introspection and a sometimes wistful contemplation of the past, and his semi-formed doodles express a child's viewpoint perfectly. While later generations may view it as a chronicle of how their parents or grandparents lived, today's readers are likely to laugh and give more than a few nods of recognition to Kaplan's vignettes, finding charm in the absurd. --Jaclyn Fulwood, blogger at Infinite Reads