This picture-book of nostalgia is one of America's best-loved modern classics, for good reason: people are probably more familiar with it on account of the movie adaptation, although they may not be aware of it. The movie, "A Christmas Story," which likewise showcases a (select) series of priceless memories from Ralphie's childhood, is a bit more tame, however. The novel version has an adult Ralph reminiscing with his bartender friend Flick (who features in the movie most prominently as the Kid Whose Tongue Got Stuck to a Flagpole), when the former returns to his small Indiana hometown after having moved to the Big City Beyond, New York. Some of the stories are outright blasphemous... but, boy, are they funny!
Apparently there is a "real" Hohman, Indiana, but it's actually called Hammond. Some of the actual sites, such as the Warren Harding Elementary School, and Cleveland Street, are actual places. The book is set during the Depression, so everyone in this Midwest town is pretty hard up, which makes for an interesting backdrop for a child. I've always been fascinated by this bygone era, and how people lived in Heartland towns during the Depression, when, as described, most people were out of work but still managed to populate the neighborhoods full of colorful characters, some driven to the depths of desperation by their tenuous situation. Things were simpler but infinitely more complicated: there was nowhere near the social safety net we have now; there was certainly no moratorium on rent back during the Great Depression!
The colorful (sometimes bawdy), rapid-fire prose reminds me of David Sedaris, as both authors can spin a yarn like no other. Shepherd is a master of painting with words, and, even when it's overwrought, it's so comical you hardly notice. My favorite vignette was, and continues to be, the Leg Lamp, a creation of absolute comedic genius, which has caused aching sides for generations of fans. The style may be attractive to some and not to others, but you have to admit that Shepard is a master storyteller: to say that this book is effusive is an understatement. The descriptions are hyper-saturated with descriptive detail, and, although it's sometimes cumbersome, it wrings emotion from the prose like water from a dishrag, assembling a jigsaw puzzle of memories into a cohesive narrative replete with sights, sounds, smells and sensations.
Sometimes humorous, always poignant, this novel of classic Americana drips with nostalgia of a long-distant and much-imagined past, although the events described, such as the firework-turned-mortar incident, could have happened in almost any period, which makes the stories that much more enduring. I think we can all relate to Ralph and Company in some way, as we each have such memories from our childhood: some triumphant, some tragic, some mortifying, but all, as Paul Bowles says, "so deeply a part of your being that you can't even conceive of your life without it."
