Little Boy Blues

Malcolm Jones has captured vivid insights into his childhood, with all of its pains and pleasures. He remembers and recounts many vignettes that are similar to those experienced by most of us. However, Malcolm puts them in a profound perspective that is both entertaining and enlightening to me as I think they would be to many. Having grown up in this same neighborhood of the south in the 40's-50's, I personally related to much. Like Malcolm, I migrated out of the South for most of my life and share with him the things that I miss, but also the things that remain challenging and will take more generations to solve. On a very personal basis, Malcolm opens up to sharing many experiences involving his father, whom I knew well. The interplay of loving family members, who faced difficulties in their own unique ways is inspirational when provided the insight that is deep and searching. I thoroughly enjoyed reading this style of writing that connected so well, which is so different from his talents displayed on the pages of Newsweek's A & E columns, yet equally rewarding in a unique way.

I loved this book. Jones depiction of his family's class distinction reminded me very vividly of similiar ideas and ideals that were a part of my own heritage growing up during the same years and slightly earlier in the South. Although I grew up in Alabama,not North Carolina, the same attitudes existed within my own family. I did not connect with the experience of having an alcoholic father nor a divorce between my parents but I can relate to the attitudes espoused by his mother and her family with regard to the patronizing of black people, an emphasis on class distinction, and expectations generally held for the younger (my) generation. I had to laugh when he mentioned "hydrophobia," a word I haven't heard since my childhood. I believe it means rabies. I can recall riding on the bus with my grandmother as a child. She would intently observe passengers and direct my attention to women with thick ankles. "That's a sign of poor breeding," she would tell me. "It is an indication that they came from a lower class of people. People of refinement have slender ankles." Poor English was a dead giveaway of class status as were a lack of manners and the wearing of too much jewelry. When grandmother saw a woman ostentatiously draped in too much jewelry she would remark, "people like that look as if they are wearing all the jewelry they possess at one time." I was taught to address my mother as "mother," and my grandparents as "grandmother and grandfather." It was acceptable to call my father "daddy." I was corrected when I said, "I'm gonna," and told that I should say "going to." "Can" meant I could if I was able and "may" was to ask permission. There was no end to learning proper decorum and walking, sitting and talking in an appropriate manner. Jones' book brought back many buried memories for me of a time that in many ways (but not all) I wish still existed.

I think we can all agree that the events in our lives definitely contribute to the person we become, and Malcolm Jones is no different. In his book LITTLE BOY BLUES he shows us how we can go through challenges and trials in our family and personal lives and still come out on the other side stronger and wiser. Definitely a book I will be suggesting to others looking to find some reason to see life's difficulties as a "glass half full".

I loved this book! The detailed biography along with the stories touched me greatly. I read it on my Kindle and was unable to sleep until I fell over from exhaustion and slept. What a fantastic, truth-telling writer Malcolm Jones is!