The author spent her early years in the now-gone Akron neighborhood of Goosetown around 1950, and attempts to reconstruct the people and places of that time. With the help of her beloved Uncle Paul and various archives, she comes to understand her past. Unfortunately, very little happened. Painstaking detail is lavished on minor events. True, a young cousin was tragically killed in an accident, and there's the mystery of where a grandfather disappeared for several years - but most of this left me cold. I felt bad for not caring, but reading this was like watching someone's endless vacation slides (and the book's not even that long). ( )

I'm sorry, but I just couldn't get interested in either the characters nor the town. I got halfway through the book and was just bored every page. I hate to give a bad review, but I can't say anything good about it. If there is some great improvement later in the book please let me know and I'll try to finish it. In the meantime I have too many good books sitting around just waiting to be read. ( )

This is an elegiac memoir cum urban history that explores a working class family and the neighborhood the author never knew. Told in the present tense as, in part, a series of adventures with her Uncle Paul, the author explores her past, truths about her family, and the truth that place is ever changing.

What I liked best about this slim volume was the tone, and the forthright acknowledgement of the writerliness of the task. Ms. Dyer is a presence in the story and on the page, constructing her story as much as she tells it. As a study of memory and the eternal presence of the past, the book is slight but evocative; as a family history, it’s a little thin. The author admits that she is not telling her whole story, she’s not telling everything about herself or the neighborhood or her family, but coming at the end of the book, I found that unsatisfying.

The writing is lovely, and the present tense works well for the narrative. The chapter exploring how an ending is reached, and how two stories can have the same ending, was particularly fine and gets closer to the real heart of the story: the unspoken stories about her grandfather and father’s alcoholism, and the family history of Alzheimer’s.

In the end, this is a pleasant, well-written book with moments and passages of fine writing and engrossing story-telling that keeps many secrets still hidden. I hope the author explores them in greater detail. Her self-awareness and clean style serve her subjects well. ( )

A search by the author for her roots and her early childhood. She goes looking with her eighty-nine year old uncle because he still remembers the old neighborhood and all the old landmarks. His memory is astounding. She doesn't remember her grandfather who disappeared for years and no one knew where he was and the only thing her uncle would say about him was that he was a 'rascal'. If you were born during this era you can relate to this book and the good ole days. ( )

This is the first book I've read by Joyce Dyer. I understand that her other three memoirs have led the way to this one. I don't know had I read one of the prequels whether I would have been interested in continuing the journal with Goosetown, but Goosetown does not inspire me to explore her other writing. It's a rather dark story which makes me sympathetic to the author, especially regarding the relationship with her parents, particularly her mother. But, it seemed incomplete to me, like a journal that needed something more to make it a "real book" appealing to a broader audience; those of us who don't know Akron or don't share similarities with the author's experience. I hope Ms Dyer can come to terms with the family she was raised with and move on. I think that hope was lacking in her narrative. Maybe one day she will be able to tell us how she overcame her challenges, I would like to read about that.