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Sleeping arrangements / Laura Shaine Cunningham.

By: Material type: TextTextPublication details: London : Bloomsbury, 2005.Description: 240 pages ; 20 cmContent type:
  • text
Media type:
  • unmediated
Carrier type:
  • volume
ISBN:
  • 0747576270 (cased)
  • 0747579326 (pbk.)
Subject(s):
Holdings
Item type Current library Collection Call number Copy number Status Date due Barcode Item holds
Biographies Davis (Central) Library Biographies Biographies B CUN 1 Available T00415404
Total holds: 0

Enhanced descriptions from Syndetics:

Very few books have the magic of Sleeping Arrangements - the memoir of Lily Shaine, an orphan brought up by her two eccentric bachelor uncles.

Uncle Len is a 6 foot 6 inch private investigator, a trench-coated cross between Abraham Lincoln and Sam Spade. Uncle Gabe, the librarian, is a confirmed dreamer who writes gospel songs in his spare time. With her uncles as mentors, the human jungle of the Bronx in the 1950s as her playground, the schoolroom as her torture chamber, and very knowing little girls as her playmates, Lily learns the secrets of life, sex, death and, above all, family love.

A wry, funny and deeply affectionate portrait of the most unlikely of happy families, Sleeping Arrangements is a modern classic.

"A portion of this book was originally published in the New Yorker"--T.p. verso.

"Portions of this book were based on Hers columns by Laura Cunningham"--T.p. verso.

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Reviews provided by Syndetics

Library Journal Review

This is Cunningham's humorous memoir about growing up in an extremely unusual Bronx household in the 1950s. The 1989 book garnered wonderful reviews from fellow authors and critics and should charm new readers. (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

Publishers Weekly Review

Adopted by her two eccentric bachelor uncles after her mother's death, the author describes growing up in an unorthodox but happy Bronx household during the 1950s. ``In an effective memoir that delineates a real, if idiosyncratic, world, Cunningham captures a special slice of New York with humor and integrity,'' observed PW. (Jan.) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved

Booklist Review

This charming memoir is a paean to Cunningham's mother, Rosie, who died when the author was eight, and to the two eccentric uncles who raised her. Unmarried and living in a series of New York apartments owned by relatives, Rosie tells her young daughter, Laura (referred to throughout as Lily), that her father is off fighting World War II, even though the war has long been over. With the outbreak of the Korean conflict, Rosie invents a heroic death for her "husband," and mother and daughter move into an apartment of their own in the shadow of Yankee Stadium. Four years later Rosie's sudden death brings about another change in living arrangements when Lily's two bachelor uncles move in. Uncle Gabe spends all his free time writing love songs and invariably scares off his dates by belting out show tunes at inopportune moments. Uncle Len habitually dresses in a trench coat and fedora, doesn't believe in furniture, and serves popcorn for breakfast. As this strange trio learns to accommodate each other's peculiar habits, they also forge a strong and loving family unit. An immensely entertaining, upbeat portrait of a very special family. --Joanne Wilkinson

Kirkus Book Review

A superbly crafted, offbeat memoir from novelist Cunningham (Third Parties, Sweet Nothings), fondly recollecting a girlhood spent in the Bronx during the 50's. As a young girl encouraged by her unmarried mother, ""Lily"" spins fictions of an absent father fighting overseas long after the war has ended. When her mother dies suddenly, rupturing the bond fostered between the two in their cramped apartment across from Yankee Stadium, Lily is joined by her kooky uncles: Len, a ""cross between Sam Spade and President Lincoln,"" and Gabe, a deeply religious man who composes ditzy songs that he's prone to deliver at full tilt. Bachelors in their 40s with little experience with housekeeping, Len and Gabe throw themselves into the task with admirable if misguided zeal. Charged with cooking, which he performs in chef's hat or pith helmet depending on the weather, Len serves such imaginative breakfast fare as tuna croquettes, baked beans, and popcorn. Then along comes ""Etka from Minsk,"" Lily's grandmother, who clips unwanted relatives from family photos and pilfers the girl's clothing and jewelry, and the family is complete. Other lovable portraits emerge--of Lily's sexually precocious and inappropriately named friend Diana, who stubbornly and jealously wears a sister's first communion dress for months on end, looking like ""a soiled, miniature bride""; and of ""El Beasto,"" a sour-breathed fifth-grade teacher who pays a ""home visit"" that forces a mortified Lily to view her oddball relations from an outsider's perspective for the first time. Extraordinary and yet surprisingly close to home, these portraits, along with evocations of a ""torture vacation"" at camp and petty schoolyard humiliations, distill the essence of a child's innocence and anguish. A delightful, affectionate, and moving remembrance for Cunningham veterans and newcomers alike. Copyright ©Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.

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