Lost in place : growing up absurd in suburbia

by Mark Salzman

Hardcover, 1995

Status

Available

Genres

Biography & Memoir

Biography

Publication

New York : Random House, c1995.

Description

From the author of Iron & Silk comes a charming and frequently uproarious account of an American adolescence in the age of Bruce Lee, Ozzy Osborne, and Kung Fu. As Salzman recalls coming of age with one foot in Connecticut and the other in China (he wanted to become a wandering Zen monk), he tells the story of a teenager trying to attain enlightenment before he's learned to drive.

User reviews

LibraryThing member dancingstarfish

Salzman tells us about his search for meaning and purpose in his life, engaging everything from cello, drugs, jazz, kung fu, chinese art, his parents and everything in between. A sweet story about how we try to figure out who we are, and where we inevitably end up.

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LibraryThing member Lindsayg

After reading Salzman's True Notebooks, I ran out and got all the rest of his books including this one. He's one of Nancy Pearl's "Too Good to Miss" authors. His accounts of being a weird little kid really cracked me up, especially since I was such a weird little kid myself.

LibraryThing member sumariotter

This book is hilarious. It might be the best memoir/coming of age novel I've ever read. And it's a memoir that his family can be proud to read, very unusual in the memoir genre. I kept wanting to read bits of this aloud to people. And did I say, it's funny.

LibraryThing member satyridae

Nicely written memoir about Salzman's odd and goofy childhood. The characters ring true, and the absurdities made me smile. Worthwhile, though not as riveting as his True Notebooks.

LibraryThing member JeremyPreacher

Some things never really change, and growing up in middle-class suburbia seems to be one of them. This is a charming, if somewhat glib, story and the martial arts instructor Mark encounters is almost (but sadly not quite) beyond belief. I definitely felt some sympathy for the intelligent, restless

kid searching for meaning, and while the book as a whole seems rather sanitized, it was definitely an entertaining read.

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LibraryThing member dbsovereign

Sort of a prequel to his _Iron and Silk_. I could personally relate to many of Salzman's aspirations and childhood fascinations, and even shared some of the same childhood TV shows...

LibraryThing member Cheryl_in_CC_NV

3.5 stars. Most dragged a bit, because I'm a pacifist and female, and I just don't understand the drive to fight, to prove how tough one is by hurting oneself and others. But I sure did enjoy getting glimpses of his incredibly supportive family - no dysfunction there! And the ending was almost up

to the standards of Iron & Silk - insightful, sincerely humorous, disarmingly enchanting.

I still haven't decided whether I want to read Salzman's novels or not.

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LibraryThing member SeriousGrace

Salzman can take an ordinary upbringing and turn it into a tragic comedy full of deep sighs and tears of laughter. What were American boys in the mid 70s obsessing over? Sex, drugs and rock and roll...and Bruce Lee. Picture Mark Salzman at thirteen listening to Ozzy Osbourne and practicing flying

kicks just like his idol. Only add a bald wig, cello lessons, and an obsession with all things Chinese while living in the suburbs of Connecticut, and you have the makings of an incredibly sweet and hilarious memoir. This should have been a movie.

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