Rating: 
Summary: Sheer Craftmanship!
Review: "Buddy" writes an interesting story about his life and his family, but I was most intrigued by how and why he decided to become a writer. I think that this book would make a great gift for aspiring young (or old) writers. It also illustrates some of the techniques writers can use to make their own stories vivid. For example, his use of repetition in Chapter Fifteen was particularily effective. Russell Baker clearly knows his craft and this book was a delight to read!
Rating: 
Summary: Critizing Someone's Life
Review: Growing Up by Russell Baker is the story of a boy's account of childhood in the early 1900's. Although realistic this story was tedious, repetitive, random, and a fine example of what I call, well, boring. Like most memoirs I've read, Growing Up starts dull and only gets worse. Sure it had a fitting title (I mean that's what the book is about, growing up), but the early childhood stage seemed to go on forever, and then it seemed like ages five through fifteen never happened. The whole story was basically ages five through ten, and fifteen through twenty-five, other than that his life didn't exist. Also since he flips back and forth, the pieces don't fit; he tells you he sold newspapers at age eight, and when he finally gets to age eight the whole newspaper thing is never mentioned. Although repetitive and dull (alright your mom wants you to make something of yourself, we get the point.), I must admit he was pleasantly articulate, and he did provide with humorous drops of wisdom along the way like how his mom had a saying for everything, but that's about as close as I got to liking it. Aside from being tedious and random, the beginning was kind of weak, and didn't hold my interest for too long; and a little suspense and mystery wouldn't kill him, I mean wasn't he ever scared silly as a kid? Even though I have basically just bashed this book, it took a lot of guts to write some of that stuff down and publish it, so I'll give Baker some credit for guts, but next time he feels like writing a biography, he needs to get some over opinionated readers to critique it first, that or lean some writing skills. All in all I give this book a two in interest and a seven for cute motherly wisdom.
Rating:
Summary: From hard times to the "New York Times"
Review: Growing Up, is Russel Baker's autobiography that describes his atypical life. Starting from humble beginnings in the mountains of West Virginia, Baker weathered a childhood that spanned the entire Depression, and later found success as a big city newspaperman. What was most enjoyable about this book was its genuine authenticity. Baker rattles off no frightening or boring statistics about the Depression. Rather, he writes about life as he saw it, progressively maturing as the book flows along. This, one would argue, is this book's most appealing quality. Baker never comes out to draw attention to himself at any time during the book. He lets the reader know if there was any particular activity that he was adept at, and surprisingly, those passages were surprisingly rare throughout the book. An enthralling read, no, a good, solid read, yes. Go ahead, check it out.
Rating: 
Summary: Heartwrenching and Beautiful!
Review: One evening when I was eleven I brought home a short "composition" on my summer vacation which the teacher had graded with an A. Reading it with her own schoolteacher's eye, my mother agreed that it was top drawer seventh grade prose and complimented me. Nothing mores was said. But a new idea had taken root in her mind. Halfway through dinner she interrupted the conversation. "Buddy", she said, "maybe you could be a writer".-Russell Baker from Growing Up It is as a tribute to his mother that Russell Baker, one of America's leading wordsmiths and humorists, wrote Growing Up, his 1982 account of doing just that during the depression. The memoir one him his second Pulitzer Prize (his first he won 4 years prior for his New York Times "Observer" Column). The book itself is very well-written (as is pretty much everything Baker's ever done) and has dashes of humor throughout it. Yet overall. the book ranks as a touching tribute to the mama who raised him, pushed him when he needed pushing and ultimately encouraged him to make something of himself. "Lord how I hated those words", Baker writes at the conclusion of chapter 1 of Growing up, referring of course to "make something of yourself". Young Russell wasn't a bad boy per se. He was a decent young man who had the same habit that many people of 7-8 (end often higher in many cases) have: laziness. Of course, his mother Lucy Elizabeth did not approve of this at all. She was determined that her son was going to get on the path to success. Growing Up is the story of how she and several other influences in young Russell's life helped steer him that way. The other influences include his younger sister Doris, his Uncle Harold, his Aunt Pat and his 12th grade high school English teacher Mr. Fleagle. All of them give him advice and affection for this is not the time to be loafing around. This is America in the 1930s, the height of the Great Depression. Baker's writing vividly brings the era to life. He shows how people struggled to make enough money to subsist on and how this affected everyone, especially the people in his family. And it was especially hard on Baker's family, for his father died when he was 5 years old. This resulted in his mother and sister moving from Virginia to Belleville New Jersey (where young Russell experienced his first taste of journalism work as a magazine salesman at eight years old) and finally Baltimore. We are shown Baker going to John's Hopkins University to major in Journalism, accompnay him through service in the Navy and watch as he meets his first wife and gets started on the path towards success in the wordsmithing business. We get many different tidbits of life in early-to-mid 20th century America. We watch as Russell's Aunt and Uncle quarrel over the hanging of a re-elect Herbert Hoover poster and see them compromise when the aunt goes out to get a Roosevelt poster. We see Uncle Harold introduce Russell to the writing of HL Mencken. We see Russell in a college writing course attempting to write like Hemingway. Through it all, the one constant throughout the journey is Lucy Elizabeth. She's an ever presence throughout the book, always there to cheer Russell on, to pray for him when he needs it. Unfortunately, we also see old age take over her life and her mind and the final moments of the book as she succumbs to death and can't even remember her own son are positively heartbreaking. Don't miss this very special book! A worthy book worth owning! Another Amazon quick-pick I would like to recommend is THE LOSERS CLUB by Richard Perez -- a wonderful, heartfelt small press novel that you'll certainly enjoy.
Rating:
Summary: Heart Warming -- Applicable to All
Review: Russell Baker brings his own life experiences to print as he pulls together the love, hate, anger, and various emotions of growing up into a masterpiece. The book is easy to read and addictive. The ending is emotional and could draw tears, the sign of a wonderful novel.Whether you're young or old, this book will bring back your own memories of childhood and your relationships with siblings, parents, and relatives
Rating:
Summary: modest, charming
Review: Russell Baker's charmingly written "Growing Up" takes us through the stages of his eventful life, from his early rural boyhood, through the hard times of the Depression when he lived with his widowed mother and a houseful of her relatives in New Jersey, to the World War II years and beyond. His tone throughout is modest and unassuming, and each stage is presented according to his maturity level as he grew up. His mother's high expectations set a high bar for Baker through his growing up years, and must have contributed to his successful eventual career at the New York Times. "Growing Up" is carefully crafted by this experienced writer, yet reads as if he had effortlessly put together this a seamless memoir. The many characters come to vivid life with all their virtues and foibles, and Baker's narrative flows smoothly from beginning to end. A great read!
Rating:
Summary: One of the best memoirs I've read
Review: Russell Baker's story from childhood to an adult is undoubtedly one of the very best of this genre--a classic that will be read long after Baker has been taken from this earth. I am biased, perhaps, because Baker and I share the same year of birth and some similar experiences. Baker's story is also very much the story of one of the "greatest generation," the generation who suffered in poverty during the Great Depression, then became part of the 12 million American men who enlisted or were drafted to fight--and help win--the Second World War. Baker did not get overseas, but the accounts of his Naval flight training will bring smiles and nods to all of those who underwent the long training ordeal before getting one's wings. But Growing Up is also a story of Baker's mother, an indominable woman so very typical of her generation, and who had the handicap of losing her husband when Russel was five years old. His mother's grit, her frugality, her determination to see that her children, particularly Russell, would "make something of himself" is endearing and will strike a familiar chord with many of us who grew up during those years. The book is beautifully written, wonderfully evocative of time and place, and filled with vignettes of some of the colorful Baker clan who shared part of Baker's growing years. The whimsical humor of a Baker column that ran for so many years in the New York Times is present here, much of it directed towards himself and his fumbles and bumbles. Equally amusing and honest are his tales of his Navy time, his failed attempts at seduction, and a hilarious account of a weekend drinking binge that prepared him for a check ride--he was was on the verge of washing out of the cadet program--that astounded his check ride flight instructor. This is a book for the night bookshelf, to be picked up again and again for pure enjoyment.
Rating:
Summary: Heartwrenching and Beautiful!
Review: Russell Baker, who won the Pulitzer Prize in 1979, deserves to be a national treasure on the basis of this book alone. It traces his youth in rural Virginia, from the death of his father when he was only five through his growing up years between the wars. The rest of the book is a paean to his mother, a strong-willed optimist who never accepted defeat as an alternative to success. Her unfailing faith in the talents of her young son were not misplaced. This is an iconic and magical piece of literature, a story of courage and love, of the bonds of family in spite of tension and disagreement.
Wonderful both as a story and as a piece of writing.
Rating:
Summary: Interesting Book
Review: The book Growing Up by Russell Baker was an interesting account of life before and after the Depression and the trials and traumas of life in that time. This autobiography has something for everyone such as humor, sexuality, and real life accounts that could refer to the reader's own experiences. This is a book that should be read by many curious readers. This book contained mounds and mounds of humor. The writer had no mercy when picking people apart in this book. He would pick fun at his second father, Herb, because of Herb's lack of intellectual ability and just because he was not his real father: "In meal conversations I addressed myself only to my mother or Doris, always managing to omit him (Herb) from the circle. When he interrupted to say, 'Pass the potatoes,' I passed the bowl silently without looking at him while continuing to talk to my mother and Doris." The author of this book also enjoyed to stress on sexuality. The author had a struggle with his "love" life. It seems that the curse of virginity followed him throughout his life in the Navy: "I located a very private place south of Coral Gables. We passed it each day en route to the airfield. She seemed willing enough. We pulled off the highway into marshy ground overhung by great spreading limbs and vines. She switched off the headlights and we embraced in the blackness, hungry for sin. The mosquitoes arrived immediately... She was screaming that they were eating her legs. She pushed me away, threw on the headlight beams, and crying, 'They'll eat us alive!' backed out and roared top-speed back to Miami cursing mosquitoes." The author had a talent that could make the reader think of instances in his or her life. By using this talent in Mr. Bakers writing, the reader asks his or herself "Has that happened to me before?" Growing Up by Russell Baker is definitely worth reading. It has all that you want in a historic account about the 1920's to the 1950's and more. This definitely is a book that can draw you in and never let you go.
Rating:
Summary: Growing Up
Review: The book Growing Up by Russell Baker was an interesting account of life before and after the Depression and the trials and traumas of life in that time. This autobiography has something for everyone such as humor, sexuality, and real life accounts that could refer to the reader's own experiences. This is a book that should be read by many curious readers. This book contained mounds and mounds of humor. The writer had no mercy when picking people apart in this book. He would pick fun at his second father, Herb, because of Herb's lack of intellectual ability and just because he was not his real father: "In meal conversations I addressed myself only to my mother or Doris, always managing to omit him (Herb) from the circle. When he interrupted to say, 'Pass the potatoes,' I passed the bowl silently without looking at him while continuing to talk to my mother and Doris." The author of this book also enjoyed to stress on sexuality. The author had a struggle with his "love" life. It seems that the curse of virginity followed him throughout his life in the Navy: "I located a very private place south of Coral Gables. We passed it each day en route to the airfield. She seemed willing enough. We pulled off the highway into marshy ground overhung by great spreading limbs and vines. She switched off the headlights and we embraced in the blackness, hungry for sin. The mosquitoes arrived immediately... She was screaming that they were eating her legs. She pushed me away, threw on the headlight beams, and crying, 'They'll eat us alive!' backed out and roared top-speed back to Miami cursing mosquitoes." The author had a talent that could make the reader think of instances in his or her life. By using this talent in Mr. Bakers writing, the reader asks his or herself "Has that happened to me before?" Growing Up by Russell Baker is definitely worth reading. It has all that you want in a historic account about the 1920's to the 1950's and more. This definitely is a book that can draw you in and never let you go.
|
