Revere Beach Elegy: A Memoir of Home and Beyond

This book is a "Must Read," one of the very best novels I have read in the last decade. Every page held phrases and paragraphs I wanted to read and re-read, so rich were the images in this coming-of-age novel. Perfect for a book club.

This book is a collection of Merullo's essays about his boyhood in his Italian-American hometown, Revere-five miles from Boston, Massachusetts. Merullo was born into a typical Italian family where fathers are the head of the entire family. He grew up in a neighborhood with lots of cousins, uncles and aunts. The value of this book is not just Merrullo's boyhood tales, most important it depicts the struggle of immigrant families in this country, trying very hard to have a better life for themselves and their children. As a first generation Italian-American, Merullo's father worked full-time and went to law school in the evenings for several years. He failed the BAR examination eight times but eventually received his law degree at the age of 54. Unfortunately he died in his early 60s. As a second generation Italian-American, Merullo was raised with parental expectations, but made his own way. He obtained primary education at Phillips Exeter Academy and then Boston University, then the Peace Corps and finally found his niche as a writer. I like this book because this book reminds me the year I lived in Greater Boston area.