Childhood and Other Neighborhoods

Childhood and Other Neighborhoods by Dybek, Stuart. hardcover edition. ISBN: 9780670216185.

In Stuart Dybeks Chicago, wonder lurks in unexpected placesâ in garbage-strewn alleys, gloomy basement apartments, abandoned rooms at the top of rickety stairs periodically rumbled by passing el trains. Transformed through the wide eyes of Dybeks adolescent heroes, these grimy urban backwaters become exotic landscapes of fear-filled possibility, of dreams not yet turned to nightmares. Chronicling what happens when Old World faith meets the dark side of the American dream, Dybeks poignant stories of coming of age in Chicago alternately appall, amaze, and just simply entertain.