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A vibrant, decadent work, this memoir is a snapshot of the author’s young adulthood in the 1960s. Growing up in a musical family led by her musician father, Harry “The Hipster” Gibson, Lorraine experienced a childhood fragmented by her father’s long absences and brief incarceration, her parents’ divorce, and her mother’s intrepid single-parenting of four spirited children. At age twenty-two, Lorraine moved back home with her sister Arlene, brother Jeff, and Arlene’s three children after her mother was hospitalized.
From there, Lorraine spins her memoir full of poetic imagery of their Southern California beach town and the cast of colorful artists who decorate their lives. With timely references to the likes of Betty White, Thelonious Monk, Dizzy Gillespie, and JFK, Lorraine weaves a tale that turns even the most ordinary experiences, such as a trip to the library, into an adventure full of whimsical asides and stories. The memoir is interspersed with simple yet evocative pencil drawings, dramatized observations of her daily life “From the Gray Notebook,” and depictions of her family, friends, and casual acquaintances. Readers will eagerly follow Lorraine as she discovers she is no longer the “good, little, quiet girl” and grows into her own, exploring writing, painting, yoga, modeling, and ultimately traveling on a grand hitchhiking adventure.
This work is truly a delight and a pleasure. The author’s quick, quippy descriptions, such as “Arlene is my older sister, an incurable idealist who flutters hysterically through life,” consistently entertain and keep the reader engaged. Her memories are interspersed with educational anecdotes. For example, readers learn the difference between West and East Coast jazz, the meaning of chord inversions, and how experimental free jazz shook the early music scene. With gentle humor and loving care, this memoir packs nostalgia, entertainment, and education into a resounding masterpiece.
RECOMMENDED by the US Review