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Chinaberry Sidewalks (2011)

by Rodney Crowell(Favorite Author)

3.83 of 5 Votes: 4

ISBN

0307594203 (ISBN13: 9780307594204)

languge

English

genre

Memoir & Autobiography

publisher

Knopf

review 1: Resilience is the word to describe Rodney Crowell whose childhood growing up in Texas was severely burdened due to a mother with epilepsy and an alcoholic father. Many of the chapters are like short stories about his neighborhood friends and their crazy stunts. It helps to balance painful life of beatings and incompetent parenting that he lived through. Alcoholism, poor housing, lack of good medical care, elementary school education and frustration are the oppressive barriers in his childhood. Eventually, he is asked to join a band and we rediscover how he made his way out. That he could get out is a major revelation to him. Rodney Crowell writes an engaging and honest portrait, an eye-opener that translates into authentic country storytelling and songwri... moreting.
review 2: I was thinking this would be a musicians biography, but it only tread lightly on music, not at all in the first half. What this felt like is more a Rick Bragg book - a story about family and anecdotes about growing up. The Crowell family was a bit rougher (at least in language) than the Bragg family, but the stories of growing up in the South were similar. While I enjoyed some of the stories, there was a sadness in the background of a lot of the book that isn't dispelled at the end. And, again, I was expecting more stories about the music than were offered here. less

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