Call number
FIC SCH
Collection
Genres
Publication
Random House (2020), 480 pages
Description
"In the 1950s, Ellie and Brick are teenagers in love. A basketball star, Brick could escape his abusive father and be the first person in his working-class family to go to college. But when Ellie becomes pregnant, they marry, she gives up her dream of nursing school, and Brick gets a union card instead. This riveting novel tells the story of three generations in a working-class family; especially Brick and Ellie's daughter Samantha. Illuminating issues facing working-class, Rust Belt people, Erietown also chronicles the evolution of women's lives, and how much people know about each other and pretend not to, the grinding factory work of a smart man in a blue-collar job, and the secrets that explode lives"--
User reviews
LibraryThing member brangwinn
A family was created in the late 1050’s when Ellie, who has the best grades in her class hopes to go to nursing school and then marry Brick. Her unexpected pregnancy puts an end to both their hopes of further education. The dream of being the first in their blue-collar families to attend college
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is gone. Through their daughter’s interests in women’s issues, Ellie gets a chance to live her life anew through Sam. Their daughter is libera, smart and educated. Of course, there are secrets in this family and Sam discovers some of them. I liked Sam, but my favorite character was Brick, because he allowed me to see how he, too, along with his wife was forced to give up dreams, but it is Ellie, the mom who has the best line. “Don’t be late for your own life.” Show Less
LibraryThing member wagner.sarah35
So much of this novel felt familiar, as though it could have been written about an earlier generation of my own family and community - teen pregnancy, union jobs, the importance of staying married through thick and thin, the adoration of athletics, the mixed feelings towards college education. The
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themes and the characters are complicated and I spent much the novel with love-hate feelings toward Brick, the central male character. Overall, I can't help but sense that this novel presents an authentic picture of what life was like during a particular era, with all of its flaws and much of the romance wiped away. There is less a sense of conclusion and resolution at the end of this book, and more a feeling of moving forward, which might be the besting ending of all. Show Less
LibraryThing member bookchickdi
Connie Schultz’s novel The Daughters of Erietown spans the decades from the 1950s through the 1970s in the industrial town of Erietown, Ohio. Ellie is a high school girl madly in love with Brick, the star basketball player.
Both are planning on going to college when Ellie discovers she is
Over the years, they mourn their lost dreams, and Brick’s unhappiness causes him to become reckless. We see their oldest child, Samantha, grow up in during turbulent times in her family and in the country as she has to make decisions for her own future.
The Daughters of Erietown is a great read for anyone from a small town as well as anyone who came of age of the 1960s and 1970s, with the intergenerational struggles that took center stage. Each character is vividly portrayed, and their decisions have consequences that reverberate for everyone. I highly recommend it.
Both are planning on going to college when Ellie discovers she is
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pregnant. All of their future dreams change as they marry and begin a family. Brick goes to work in the maintenance department of a coal plant, and Ellie stays home with their children.Over the years, they mourn their lost dreams, and Brick’s unhappiness causes him to become reckless. We see their oldest child, Samantha, grow up in during turbulent times in her family and in the country as she has to make decisions for her own future.
The Daughters of Erietown is a great read for anyone from a small town as well as anyone who came of age of the 1960s and 1970s, with the intergenerational struggles that took center stage. Each character is vividly portrayed, and their decisions have consequences that reverberate for everyone. I highly recommend it.
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LibraryThing member Judiex
Ellie Fetters, still in high school, wanted to become a nurse. She was offered a full scholarship to Smith College. Her father, Brick, refused to let her accept it. He said it was charity. “ What they mean is they get to show you off like a prize monkey… Told you for the rest of your life. The
Brick McGinty, Ellie’s boyfriend, a high school senior, was a basketball star. His father was extremely abusive and Brick saw college as a way to escape both his father and the small northeast Ohio town in which they lived. He would be the first basketball star from their school to go to college.
Then Ellie became pregnant and their dreams dissolved into reality.
Their story, the story of many working class people in fictional Erietown, Ohio, is the story of many others like them. How they manage to survive, thrive, and improve the chances for their daughter is honestly told in Connie Schultz’s THE DAUGHTERS OF ERIETOWN, herself the product of a similar background. The book includes flashbacks when appropriate to show what happened that lead to the current situation. It tells of the lives and attitudes of the people of Erietown including class and racial divisions and how women began using their own names rather than the honorific “Mrs (husband’s name)”.
There is an interesting section about how electricity is brought into lives.
THE DAUGHTERS OF ERIETOWN is a thoughtful, well-written, story that most people can relate to.
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matter what you accomplish, it will never feel like you did on your own because you’ll owe that school something you can’t ever paid back.” Brick McGinty, Ellie’s boyfriend, a high school senior, was a basketball star. His father was extremely abusive and Brick saw college as a way to escape both his father and the small northeast Ohio town in which they lived. He would be the first basketball star from their school to go to college.
Then Ellie became pregnant and their dreams dissolved into reality.
Their story, the story of many working class people in fictional Erietown, Ohio, is the story of many others like them. How they manage to survive, thrive, and improve the chances for their daughter is honestly told in Connie Schultz’s THE DAUGHTERS OF ERIETOWN, herself the product of a similar background. The book includes flashbacks when appropriate to show what happened that lead to the current situation. It tells of the lives and attitudes of the people of Erietown including class and racial divisions and how women began using their own names rather than the honorific “Mrs (husband’s name)”.
There is an interesting section about how electricity is brought into lives.
THE DAUGHTERS OF ERIETOWN is a thoughtful, well-written, story that most people can relate to.
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LibraryThing member froxgirl
Standard woman-centric three generation novel, set in Shittown, Ohio. A bit unusual for the framework of domestic violence, but fairly predictable.
LibraryThing member jonerthon
The wistfulness of life not going as you had planned or hoped is a theme of this novel. With women protagonists that often experience societal limits to what they want to do (save the intrepid aunt who is the exception), there is a common thread across generations about how each felt and what they
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did in response to their difficult circumstances. It is a bit long, though, and I wondered at times if we were ever going to move ahead. Show Less
Awards
Ohioana Book Award (Finalist — Fiction — 2021)
ISBN
052547935X / 9780525479352