Cursed by a Happy Childhood:
by Carl Lennertz
Published by Three Rivers Press
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Reviewed by Andrea Sisco
In Cursed by a Happy Childhood: Letters from a Dad to a Daughter, time marches on through records. Yes, the old-fashioned 45 rpm record of old. Each of Lennertz' vignettes is begun with a 45 rpm record with a 'tune' setting the stage. I knew the book had to be good if I got to relive childhood, accompanied by the nostalgia of songs from yesteryear.
Lennertz' book began as a diary for his eleven-year-old daughter. It was his declaration that he had been a child and knew something worthwhile about it. It became a lesson about navigating life.
I chuckled, my heart felt some tugs and I reminisced about my own childhood as I read Lennertz' musings. There was that one single puff of his mother's cigarette that taught him a lesson about smoking. He examines the peace a dad can feel while dropping a soiled diaper in the trash. He talks about career choices, a first dance, the shame of backing his best friend's opponent for class president because he didn't want to see his friend in the spotlight again. He also talks about the ten things that would make him a cooler dad, riding a bike and religion, cursing and so much more. But the most important lesson is that "LOVE IS THE MOST IMPORTANT THING." And that's Lennertz' book in a nutshell.
Armchair Interviews says: If you want to remember your 'good old days' while reading about Lennertz' and laugh and maybe tear up along the way, Cursed by a Happy Childhood: Letters from a Dad to a Daughter is a read you will remember.