You Must Remember thisFrom one of the great writers of our time comes this extraordinary novel of an ordinary American family in the 1950s. The Stevicks live in Port Oriskany, an industrial city in upstate New York--father, a romantic, though a dealer in secondhand furniture; mother, a 'homemaker, ' absorbed in her children and the Church; son, back from Korea, with dreams of political activism; oldest daughter, rushing into marriage early and starting a large family; middle daughter, in high school, glamorous, 'fast, ' hoping to become a pop singer; youngest daughter, quiet, watchful, secretive Enid Maria, her daddy's favorite. The façade the Stevicks present as a happy family confirms the respectable stereotype of what the decade wanted, or believed it wanted, a typical American family to be. But façades and stereotypes were strategies devised for living in an age notable for its sunny pieties and nightmare anxieties. |
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arms asked began believe better blood body boxing breath called close couldn't course damn didn't don't door drink Enid Enid's eyes face fact father feel feet Felix Felix Stevick felt fight friends Geraldine girl give going gone hadn't hair half hand Hannah happened hard he'd head hear heard heart hell hurt inside Jo-Jo keep kill kind knew lake late laughed light live Lizzie look Lyle Stevick matter mean meant Miriam morning mother mouth moving never night once pain playing remember ring running Sansom seemed seen she'd side smell smiling sometimes speak stop Street suddenly sure talk tell things thought told took tried trying turned Vince voice waiting Warren wasn't watching week woman young