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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Adlai Stevenson Angel-face arms aspirin Billy Conn bitch blood bomb boxer boxing breath Christ cigarillo Claudette Daddy damn Domenic door drink East Clinton Enid Maria Enid thought Enid's eyes face father feel Felix Stevick Felix the Cat felt fight fingers frightened fucking Geraldine girl going gone hair hand Hannah happened he'd head hear heart hell hurt inside Jersey Joe Walcott Jesus Jo-Jo Joe Louis knew l'Isle-Verte laughed Lesnovich live Lizzie Lizzie's look Lyle Stevick married Mattiuzzios McCord meant Mickey Walker Miriam Momma mother mouth Neal O'Banan never night Pearl piano Port Oriskany punch remember ring Rocky Marciano Sansom seemed she'd Shoal Lake shoulders smell smiling smoke sometimes staring Street suddenly talk teasing telephone tell things tight told trying turned uncle Vince voice Warren Stevick watching week who'd woman worried young