Revenge of the Paste Eaters
Memoirs of a Misfit
by Cheryl Peck
Part memoir, part poetry collection, and part humor essays, Revenge of the Paste Eaters
is one of the most enjoyable nonfiction works I’ve read in years. If you’re a middle-aged
woman in America, you’ll recognize something of yourself in this book. The stories of
Peck’s childhood were so funny and so close to things from my own life that I immediately
felt like I knew the author and we probably ate paste together at some point. I am absolutely
certain we had the same hairbrush smacking, big head deflating, stressed-out mother.
Revenge of the Paste Eaters bounces from topic to topic, looking for meaning from
the collective fragments of one person’s life. In parts, each anecdote, essay or poem
bears its own weight -it works as a singular unit- funny and insightful, but when taken
together, they show us something about ourselves, as well as about the author. She encourages
us to look at our own inner paradoxes, even as she looks at hers, such as how a woman
of size can be such a size-ist about tiny people or how a lesbian can find trans-gender
distressing. She shows us that people are constructed from inconsistencies and paste,
and that if you’re going to be fair to others, you really need to start by being fair to
yourself. I found the book a delight from beginning to end. |
The Book |
5-Spot / TimeWarner |
October 2005 |
Trade Paper Back |
0446693731 |
Nonfiction / memoir / poetry / essays |
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Excerpt |
NOTE: |
The Reviewer |
Jan Fields |
Reviewed 2005 |
NOTE: Reviewer Jan
Fields is the editor of Kid Magazine Writers emagazine and has written dozens of
stories and articles for the children's magazine market. |
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