From Rockaway
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Book Overview
Timmy and Chowderhead and Peg are lifeguards. They spend summers sitting in those tall chairs, smoking dope and staring at the waves, swatting insects, tormenting seagulls. Winters they work shit jobs like unloading trucks at Mickey's Deli. At night, winter and summer, they drink. Drink and get rowdy. Then there's Alex, the girl who gets away, not only from old boyfriend Timmy but also from "Rotaway"-on scholarship to a rich-kid's college in New England. One midsummer night when the four are reunited, tensions erupt in feats of daring and self-destruction during the wild, cathartic, near-sacred lifeguard ritual known as the Death Keg. Brilliantly capturing the restlessness and casual nihilism of working-class youth with no options, Jill Eisenstadt's acclaimed first novel startles in its power and originality, its depth of feeling, its bright and dark comic turns.
Format:Paperback
Language:English
ISBN:0316506338
ISBN13:9780316506335
Release Date:April 2017
Publisher:Lee Boudreaux / Back Bay Books
Length:272 Pages
Weight:0.60 lbs.
Dimensions:0.7" x 5.4" x 8.2"
Customer Reviews
4 ratings
Accurate feel for the '80s Rockaway era...
Published by Thriftbooks.com User , 21 years ago
Good book. Takes place in a time of innocence, before plane crashes in Belle Harbor and NYC. Being From Rockaway myself, I'm a bit biased. Having grown up on 117th and the boardwalk (where much of the book takes place), I can picture the locales, as well as relate to select characters. As a teenager, I too spent my summer days surfing and nights drinking on the beach. A keg and a bonfire... we used the lifeguard chairs for firewood, would run from the police. Fun fun fun. Book being true to life, there really was nothing else to do in Rockaway. My old building overlooked the lifeguard "shack" on 117th, so I got a first-hand view of what went on. They are a different breed for sure."From Rockaway" accrately captures the flavor of '80s Rockaway Beach, NY-- through the eyes of local teens bored out of their skulls, looking for excitement. I'd recommend it to anyone who grew up in Rockaway and can remember Playland-- before it became a housing development.
sluggies
Published by Thriftbooks.com User , 21 years ago
I read this book afer i moved out of Rockaway,i think she explianhow everything is in Rockaway.I've found the book to be woundful and read it many times.The parties,the beach i have to say it made me miss Rockaway very much and the fun times we used to have.So I would tell anybody to get this book and enjoy as much as i have.
Rockaway Life
Published by Thriftbooks.com User , 25 years ago
A friend lent me this book and I immediately started to read it. Once I got into the book I realised how true it really was. I am a resident of Rockaway, NY, and there are plenty of residents just like Chowderhead and ALex. They do the same things the characters do and feel the same way. I believe Jill Eisenstadt did a wonderful job of depicting life in Rockaway, NY, for a shoxkingly large portion of the teenage community. This book should be read by every resident of Rockaway, NY, to hear the truth.
My view of Rockaway Life
Published by Thriftbooks.com User , 25 years ago
I found this book at a garage sale, and I immediately bought it becuase I live in rockaway and I am I teenager. Much like the people potrayed in this story, I too am worried I will never "get out of Rockaway". Plenty of my friends go to the same bars and hangouts as the characters do, and at times we all have the same sense of hopelessness. I am a recent graduate of St. Francis de Sales, as are the characters. I just felt the book potraed a portion (not all) of Rockaway's youth very well and I find it one of my favorite books so far.
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