Looking back;: A chronicle of growing up old in the sixties

In 1972, an eighteen-year-old girl from New Hampshire wrote an essay for the New York Times, entitled "An Eighteen Year Old Looks Back on Life". Within days of the article's publication, many letters came pouring in - requests for other articles, offers to go on television, and offers to meet with editors. One offer culminated in Looking Back: A Chronicle of Growing Up Old in the Sixties - an expansion of the article she had written for the "Times". In this memoir, the young woman, Joyce Maynard, wrote about her experiences growing up in a time when the world was changing dramatically - a world shaped by political activism, war, drugs, and women's liberation - and how such events, plus the constant media presence, dictated how a generation perceived the world. Speaking as one person affected by these complex changes in our culture, Ms. Maynard describes coming of age in such a time as "growing old". Perhaps a kind of cynicism, or world-weariness from the constant barrage of images from television impacted her view of the world - and the view shared by many of her peers. Nevertheless, she also illustrates her growing-up years with the "normal" kinds of experiences - the same insecurities and fears - that shadow most young people. She also points out in her foreword that she does not consider herself to have been "representative" of the typical experience of youth in her time. In fact, she states that the act of writing about these experiences in a way "sets a person apart from the territory of which she speaks." It is impossible for me to read this book, however, and not relate to it as someone having lived through similar experiences. Not the experience of living in New Hampshire or having written a book at a young age, but the commonality of fears and insecurities that hound most young people in any time, but especially in an age (such as the sixties) when change was dramatic and constant. I had read this book many years ago, but in rereading it recently, I still could relate to it. Ms. Maynard's fiction is compelling, as well, including the novel To Die For...But her memoirs (another is At Home in the World: A Memoir), are erudite studies of growing up female in the Baby Boom generation. Laurel-Rain Snow Author of: Miles to Go, etc.

In 1972, an eighteen-year-old girl from New Hampshire wrote an essay for the New York Times, entitled "An Eighteen Year Old Looks Back on Life". Within days of the article's publication, many letters came pouring in - requests for other articles, offers to go on television, and offers to meet with editors. One offer culminated in Looking Back: A Chronicle of Growing Up Old in the Sixties - an expansion of the article she had written for the "Times". In this memoir, the young woman, Joyce Maynard, wrote about her experiences growing up in a time when the world was changing dramatically - a world shaped by political activism, war, drugs, and women's liberation - and how such events, plus the constant media presence, dictated how a generation perceived the world. Speaking as one person affected by these complex changes in our culture, Ms. Maynard describes coming of age in such a time as "growing old". Perhaps a kind of cynicism, or world-weariness from the constant barrage of images from television impacted her view of the world - and the view shared by many of her peers. Nevertheless, she also illustrates her growing-up years with the "normal" kinds of experiences - the same insecurities and fears - that shadow most young people. She also points out in her foreword that she does not consider herself to have been "representative" of the typical experience of youth in her time. In fact, she states that the act of writing about these experiences in a way "sets a person apart from the territory of which she speaks." It is impossible for me to read this book, however, and not relate to it as someone having lived through similar experiences. Not the experience of living in New Hampshire or having written a book at a young age, but the commonality of fears and insecurities that hound most young people in any time, but especially in an age (such as the sixties) when change was dramatic and constant. I had read this book many years ago, but in rereading it recently, I still could relate to it. Ms. Maynard's fiction is compelling, as well, including the novel To Die For...But her memoirs (another is At Home in the World: A Memoir), are erudite studies of growing up female in the Baby Boom generation. Laurel-Rain Snow

Joyce Maynard is a gifted writer and this talent is reflected in this work. This has been one of my favorite books for many years. She juxtaposes prominent events of the Sixties with her own developmental milestones and personal observations. Her descriptions of her home town in New Hampshire and the businesses and history, e.g. using all 7 digits for local calls as opposed to only dialing 4 add a touch of Americana and a sense of history. Her rich descriptions of people in the community and the town's history also make this a very effective work. I found the way she wrote of herself very interesting and ironic. A veteran reporter from an early age, Maynard, when writing of herself appears to take a somewhat impersonal tone for the most part. This "impersonal" voice when speaking of oneself and chronicling developmental points in their lives contrasts with the rich descriptions of other people and events that were taking place. Maynard's discussion of then-popular TV shows and the prevailing attitudes toward same offer yet another view of the Sixties; her synopses of certain shows and the conclusions she later drew paint a vivid picture of the era in very bold strokes, much like an anthropologist or sociologist studying the customs, mores and folkways of an era. This is an outstanding book and I highly recommend it.

For those of us who were good students, teachers' pets, clean-living, and obedient to authority, the Sixties were an idyllic time. Maynard stimulates memories of Silly Stuff and SRA Reader Skills. She captures the moment in each of lives when we realized that, all of a sudden, we were the adults and therefore responsible for the next generation. Maynard wrote "Looking Back" while still a teenager, employing an objective writer's eye to examine all-too-fresh adolescent experiences. For those not initiated into the cheer-leading squad, opportunities still existed to organize the junior-senior prom -- and spend the evening as the inner workings of the matchmaking computer that decided who danced with whom (with power comparable to that of the man behind the curtain in "The Wizard of Oz"). This is one of those books you'll pick up and read every couple of years, just to bring back the memories of what life was like back then, when your main responsibility was homework and your only objective was a date for Saturday night. Enjoy "Looking Back..."