An American Childhood by Annie DillardAn American Childhood by Annie Dillard

An American Childhood

byAnnie Dillard

Paperback | October 15, 2013

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A book that instantly captured the hearts of readers across the country, An American Childhood is Pulitzer Prize-winning author Annie Dillard's poignant, vivid memoir of growing up in Pittsburgh in the 1950s.
A book that instantly captured the hearts of readers across the country, An American Childhood is Pulitzer Prize-winning author Annie Dillard's poignant, vivid memoir of growing up in Pittsburgh in the 1950s.
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Title:An American ChildhoodFormat:PaperbackDimensions:272 pages, 8 × 5.31 × 0.61 inPublished:October 15, 2013Publisher:HarperCollinsLanguage:English

The following ISBNs are associated with this title:

ISBN - 10:0060915188

ISBN - 13:9780060915186

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BooksBiography and Memoir

Reviews

Rated 4 out of 5 by from Amazing read, with one caveat... I love Annie Dillard's writing voice. Reading her descriptions is like hearing a friend tell you a really good story. However, I feel like it is important to mention that Dillard is writing from the perspective of a child firmly entrenched in the Upper Crust of Pittsburgh society. That perspective is valuable, but it is important to note, if bougie descriptions happen to bother you!
Date published: 2017-06-30
Rated 1 out of 5 by from The pinnacle of boredom. I have always considered myself capable of finishing a book. No matter how dull or uninteresting I have found a book, I make a specific point of finishing it and judging it on the whole. This book, I could barely finish. It was tedious, long and superficial. The mundane events detailed by Dillard are fictionalized and irrelevant to one another, and I could feel no connection, no reality and no substance from their explanations. Dillard was pretentious, tiring and, quite frankly, the most boring character I have ever encountered in my reading. The book was, to me, cold and heartless, and I felt like putting it down the minute I started this terrible tome. There are some insights into life in the fifties, and I will admit that in the course of my struggle I did encounter a number of insightful comments regarding racism, the roles of women, the economics of the fifties and family relationships. The lessons taught in these sections of the book are insightful, even brilliant. On another level, these insights only expose the common sense vales with which we are already familiar. I certainly do not think that these tiny tidbits of fifties life merited the two hundred and fifty page struggle I had to endure. If you are a fan of significance of small things and the treasures of nostalgia, you may find this book interesting. If you actually like interesting, cohesive events in your literature, you will have to find it somewhere else. Awful.
Date published: 2005-05-19

From Our Editors

Appearing on bestseller lists everywhere (including five weeks on the New York Times bestseller list), the hardcover edition of this title instantly captured the hearts of readers across the country with its joyous, exhilarating memories of growing up in the 1950s.

Editorial Reviews

"[An American Childhood] combines the child's sense of wonder with the adult's intelligence and is written in some of the finest prose that exists in contemporary America. It is a special sort of memoir that is entirely successful...This new book is [Annie Dillard's] best, a joyous ode to her own happy childhood." (Chicago Tribune)