Back Home: Journeys Through Mobile

Back Home is a series of vignettes that Roy Hoffman published in the Mobile Press-Register and other outlets during the 1990s. Hoffman grew up in Mobile, and then moved away to attend college at Tulane University and to work for the New York Times. Back Home connects Mobile's past and present. Hoffman is a strong writer and readers will find very few missteps in his prose. The story is very personal to Hoffman, and he often interjects his family and himself into the stories; the "personal" side of Back Home gives the book an added dimension. Also, readers will enjoy the wide variety of topics that Hoffman covers. I particularly liked the sketches of former mayor Joe Langan (who attempted to steer Mobile through desegregation and angered both blacks and whites), the bar pilots (who help guide large freighters to the docks in Mobile Bay), and Mobile's Mardi Gras. While I recommend Back Home, there are some drawbacks. The sketches are of varying quality. Inevitably, Back Home has a "choppy" quality as well. The sketches quickly move from topic to topic and this can be jarring to the reader. Finally, the sketches concerning Mobile's present are not as strong the sketches on the past. Mobilians will enjoy Back Home. I know of no other book that captures the soul of "The Azalea City" so well.

This is a brilliant book. Hoffman draws fascinating portraits of a barrage of characters from in and around Mobile, and also ex-Mobilians. I am from Long Island, New York, and this was an incredibly readable, vastly enjoyable, slice of life from a different part of the country. Hoffman is a talented journalist and top-notch writer. He gives turns the local into the universal, while vividly analyzing a small cross section of the world.

It is impossible to grow up in Mobile, Alabama without this historic Southern city leaving its indelible mark. Even though I moved away 25 years ago, I still call Mobile home. Roy Hoffman's collection of articles about the people and places that make Mobile unique, brought back many memories and has stayed with me long after I turned the last page. The Mobile Register is indeed fortunate to have such a talented writer at its disposal.

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Roy Hoffman has disproved the theory that you can't go home again. With the turn of each page, I'm transported from central Texas to the city of my birth. His book, BACK HOME : JOURNEYS THROUGH MOBILE, is truly that. My mind journey's to Bienville Square, the Saenger Theater, Toolen High School, The Cathedral, the variety of languages that greeted my ears as I walked with my grandmother down Dauphin Street, the Electric Maid Bakery, whose lemon puffs were to die for, and the Gene and Roy movies at the Century on Saturday mornings. I go back somewhat earlier than Mr. Hoffman in my personal memories. Streetcars, marching in endless parades down Government Street (Catholic schools loved parades), and the beautiful Christmas eve midnight mass conducted by Bishop Thomas J. Toolen. His history of the ferry to Fairhope brought back memories of my parents who "courted" on that ferry. Fairhope was also the site of several family vacations. Floundering in the bay, a one-time Jubilee occurrence, and playing around Battles Wharf are very fond memories. The mention of Grand Bay brought thoughts of cousins who lived there and summer visits complete with catching fireflys, wading in cold creeks and eating scuppernongs from the vine. Mr. Hoffman has accomplished what he set out to do - at least for this reader. For a few days, I can sit on my couch with his book and travel back to a long-ago time and place that I still call home. This is the first of Mr. Hoffman's books that I've read, but it certainly won't be the last. And even if you aren't an expatiate of Mobile, you'll certainly be planning a trip to this historical and beautiful city soon. Thanks for a wonderful journey, Mr. Hoffman.