Pagan Babies: And Other Catholic Memories

this is a funny book one with which I could identify. any one who has attended a catholic school in the 60's or 70's knows where the author Gascone has been

A word of advice. Do not lend your copy of this book out. I am so glad they finally reprinted the book. I've lent 3 copies out - never to receive any of them back. This one will not leave my possession. You will laugh until you cry. I too went to Catholic schools and am still a happily practicing Catholic. I have some great memories too. Growing up during the 50's and 60's just does that....like the time I got into trouble for pretending I was a priest and pretending to consecrate Necco wafers. I don't know anyone who could put the laugh until you cry spin on the parochial school stories though. Irreverant, yes. A must-read? absolutely. Ms. Cascone tells her story not because she hated Catholic school, but because she has this fantastic sense of humor. I'd read anything she wrote. I bought sight unseen her book Life al Dente. I read excerpts of it to my Jewish husband in the car this weekend and even he laughed like crazy.

I had the pleasure of meeting Gina Cascone in SF at Books by the Bay - and she's as engaging and funny in person as she is when she's writing. I didn't go to Catholic schools myself, but all my neighborhood friends did as I was growing up in Cleveland and Chicago - and many of the scenes in Pagan Babies (including the adopting of the pagan babies themselves) ring absolutely true.Until her most recent book, Life al Dente, Cascone has been a children's author, and that voice comes through in Pagan Babies, which I think high school girls who have at last escaped the clutches of the nuns in their elementary schools could easily relate to. Irreverent to the point of blasphemy, Pagan Babies is a loving if scathing memoir of growing up Catholic.I thoroughly enjoyed it.

Gina Cascone captures the politics of Catholic grade school students and interprets it for the adult it has trained. The result is tear-streaming laughter from chapter to chapter. It is probably the most memorable and loved work of important literature for this alumnus of Holy Cross School, Class of '79.