SIXTY - SIX.

by Barry Levinson

Welcome to Baltimore, 1966, a quiet Eastern city of row houses, blue-collar neighborhoods, and burgeoning suburbs, a place as yet untouched by the upheavals of 1960's America.A place where everything is about to change.What was once so simple now seems complicated. Delicatessens that served delicious slabs of pastrami are now serving sprouts. Song lyrics are angry and raw. Acid is being dropped and the normal life paths—school, marriage, a safe career—seem irrelevant. Or, worse, boring.Even friendship is more complicated.As society's shifts begin to take hold, the people at the heart of Sixty-Six know they have something to hold on each other . . . Bobby Shine, an intern at the local television station; the soulful and rebellious Neil; Ben Kallin, the "King of the Teenagers"; Turko and Eggy, comic philosophers extraordinaire. They spend their time together hanging out at the Hilltop Diner, wisecracking, coping, falling in and out of love, planning for a glorious future.As the decade explodes, however, these young people are caught between the staid and traditional values of the fifties, and the confusion, turbulence, and exhilaration of the sixties. As the fighting in Vietnam escalates and the antiwar movement at home reaches fever pitch, their insular world will be rocked by violence and tragedy. As the growing Civil Rights movement sweeps across the country, they will see the best and worst of their parents’ generation. And as the hippie movement rockets across the cultural landscape, they will both embrace and be torn apart by the new freedoms afforded them. Together, they will have to confront as bewildering and wrenching a set of transformations as America has ever faced_—and each one of them will leave 1966 changed forever.Barry Levinson has moved us with such superb films as Rain Man , Good Morning, Vietnam , The Natural , and, of course, the much-loved Diner . With the same humor, depth of insight, affection for his characters, and glorious dialogue that make his movies so memorable, Levinson has written a first novel of enormous heart, a book that takes us back to a time in our history when everything was at stake and nothing would ever be the same.

Genres: Fiction

Paperback

First published August 1, 2003

About the author

Barry Levinson is an American screenwriter, film director, actor, and producer of film and television. His films include Bugsy, The Natural and Rain Man.

Reviews

[MaryB. · Rating 4 out of 5]

A gift from Mark and Jamie. Good story but it seemed to me to be so much like the movie DINER. And, that’s not a bad thing at all!
I’m a big Barry Levinson fan. “Avalon”, “Liberty Heights”.
I also enjoyed the timeframe since I lived it.

[P.A. Pursley · Rating 3 out of 5]

Barry Levinson did a very good job of writing a coming-of-age story set against the background of pivotal points in our nation's history. It reminded me alot of the movie "Diner" which Levinson also directed. Some of the characters are difficult to understand but by the end you've gotten an inside look into why they all do what they do and how they are trying to come to grips with who they are, who others expect them to be, and how they are trying to find themselves.

If you enjoy coming-of-age stories and digging deep into the minds of young adults, this book is for you.

[Bill Keithler · Rating 2 out of 5]

I read this because I really liked the movie Diner--Levinson is a far better film director than he is author. This book seems unfinished--not from a plot standpoint, but from a lack of proper editing. Perhaps it is cathartic to the author but it is lacking the polish and closure needed to make it a meaningful and memorable reading experience.

[Kathryn · Rating 3 out of 5]

What a treat to spend time in Barry Levinson's Baltimore diner once again, this time with five 23-year-old guys who are trying to figure out what to do with their lives against the backdrop of the Vietnam War and cultural upheaval. Barely a teenager myself in 1966, I had not given much thought to how recent college graduates were affected by the social changes that occurred back then.

[Catherine · Rating 3 out of 5]

Started slow, but characters developed. Good story

[Yenta Knows · Rating 4 out of 5]

I so enjoyed this book. Those who say it was the movie "Diner" in prose form have missed a key element. The book is a kunstleroman -- the maturing of an artistic personality. In that sense, it's the "Diner" back story: it's the story of the kid who experienced the events of "Diner", then became the creative personality who brought that story to the screen.

Every book gives you insight into the author. Barry Levinson seems like a great guy: warm, funny, unpretentious, exceedingly loyal to his friends, and a wonderful storyteller. I liked reading the book because I liked spending time with him.

That said, I was aware of deficiencies. The dialog is snappy, but the characters don't have differentiated verbal styles. With the exception of Annie, the female characters are poorly developed. The main plot concerns Bobby's artistic development, but that plot is almost overshadowed by the Neil and Ben subplots. And of course, the book doesn't come to a definitive end. Levinson (Hollywood type that he is) leaves the door open for a sequel.

[Paul · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a coming-of-age story for famed director Barry Levinson. I selected it largely for his Baltimore connection (he is from here originally and has done some work here, and the entire storyline takes place here).

The story is supposedly biographical, though he refers to himself as 'Bobby Shine'. Some of the incidents seem too fanciful to be true, leading you to wonder if he is exaggerating (intentionally or otherwise) or if he really lead such a dramatic life. The entire book focuses on a narrow sliver of his life, when he dropped out of law school in his early 20's to begin a career in TV. The time is the mid-60's, hence the title of the book. I'm not sure how strongly the mores of that decade influenced the characters in the book (supposedly real-life characters), but I was left with the feeling that they did not value life very much.

[Steve · Rating 5 out of 5]

This books is not my usual reading fare. I saw "Sixty Six" as a film quoted in a Jewish Journal . I tried to put it on hold as a DVD from the library and all I saw was the book "Sixty-Six" by Levinson. I checked it out and read this coming of age and beyond story set in Baltimore which, in some ways, sounded like Portland Oregon as a place where people were raised and stayed there. Viet Nam seemed a pivotal point in the attendees of the Hilltop Diner, as it did for all of us involved first in the draft, then in the lottery system of drafting. I appreciated Levinson's insight into memory and "what's real and what's imagined?" I will specifically recommend this book to my brother, who is of an age of Levinson and to my son-in-law who has Baltimore in common with the author, although 30 years later.

[Andrew Wickliffe · Rating 2 out of 5]

It's like DINER with the sentimentality of LIBERTY HEIGHTS but without that film's charm. It would have made a better film.

[Maggie Caldwell · Rating 3 out of 5]

I loved the characters, and the story was fine, but it was "Diner" all over again in novel form.

[Jackie Simons]

Read 10/03