What We Lost : A Story of My Father's Childhood

by Dale Peck

Dale Peck, Sr. grew up extremely poor in rural Long Island in the 1950s, sharing a one-room house with seven brothers and sisters, an abusive mother and an alcoholic father haunted by his past. At 14, he was essentially kidnapped by his father and take to his uncle's farm in upstate New York, where his life changed dramatically. Dale grew strong and healthy from the strenuous work on the farm, and developed a loving relationship with his uncle Wallace. For the first time, he knew contentment. But when Dale's mother demanded that he return, he was forced to choose between his broken family and his uncle and land he had come to love. It was a decision that would determine his future and the legacy he would pass on to his own son. In "What We Lost", a story that startles in its immediacy and lack of sentimentality, Dale Peck refracts his father's past through the prism of his own vivid imagination, forging a bridge between generations and revealing the dark secrets at the heart of family.

Genres: Fiction

Paperback

First published January 1, 2003

About the author

Dale Peck (born 1967 on Long Island, New York) is an American novelist, critic, and columnist. His 2009 novel, Sprout, won the Lambda Literary Award for LGBT Children's/Young Adult literature, and was a finalist for the Stonewall Book Award in the Children's and Young Adult Literature category.

Reviews

[Mark Gaulding · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a wonderful story which continued to surprise me right to the ending. "The boys" time at the farm with "the ladies" was magical and I was mesmerized. It is a somewhat complicated story which never is confusing. Peck is a wonderful writer and this is my second favorite memoir that I've read this year (Mississippi Sissy by Kevin Sessums is first). At the beginning it did seem as though the writer was inserting metaphors in every other sentence and was an annoyance for just the first few pages. Some of the metaphors were very good but it seemed a bit gratuitous and forced.

[Cherie · Rating 3 out of 5]

The order of words and paragraphs might be confusing, especially the lack of quotation marks on dialogues. But if you dig deeper to the book's meaning, it would come out as something heartwarming. At the end of the book, you'll close it and think and reflect of what just happened within those pages.

[Anne · Rating 3 out of 5]

I loved this book until the last section, which just didn't seem to ring true for me. I resented the author's intrusion of his own being into the story. It felt really self-conscious and uninteresting. Too bad, because up until then I LOVED it.

[Rachel Cassandra · Rating 4 out of 5]

Beautifully written and engaging. I would have given it five stars if it weren't for the last section of the book, which was disappointing and self-indulgent.

[Jane · Rating 5 out of 5]

What an incredibly sad but beautifully told story about the author's father, Dale Peck, Sr. This book is based on a true story, a heartbreaking tale of a boy who almost found escape from his terrible childhood, only to be snatched back into his dysfunctional family. The book was extremely detailed, with every movement and action described with clarity and rich language. I particularly loved the part of this story that dealt with the boy's life on the farm, his introduction to "the ladies" and the benefit that hard-working but honest farming brought to his young life. A beautiful tale, well worth the read and another example of why I love stories about young people coming of age.

[Bill · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'll be thinking about certain scenes from Part 1 of the book for some time; what Peck and his half-siblings did as kids to survive being poor and living in a dysfunctional family, the ways he thought up to try and avoid the bullying by his peers, the slow growing love between him and his uncle. But one scene spoke to me more than I'd have thought, when he finds the injured cow and stays with it in the freezing barn. Sadly Part 2 left me a bit confused, and disappointed. But overall an enjoyable book.

[Peggy Fagan · Rating 2 out of 5]

What happened?

I enjoyed the first two thirds of this book even though the lack of quotation marks made for awkward reading. However, to me, it seemed like the author got sick of writing and abruptly plunged us into a future with no preface, leaving the ending unexpected and dissatisfying. A little more character development in the protagonist from young teen to late middle-aged man would have gone a long way in clarifying the last chapters.. I don't necessarily need a happy ending, but the sudden stop was quite jarring.

[Susie James · Rating 4 out of 5]

I was in a depressed sort of mood when I first decided to try "Greenville" by someone named Dale Peck, who named his main character the same -- put off getting the job of reading it done but once I did get into this unusually blistering story of the resilience of the human spirit and of the depravity of it, also, it was difficult to stop reading. Dang, Dale Peck. Not sure exactly what went where in this lengthy, meandering tale...

[Shellie Kelly · Rating 3 out of 5]

A true story about a boy who lived with many siblings in a tiny house and was abused by his mother and his father was a drunk. He went to live with an uncle on a dairy farm for a while and loved it but missed home. He had a long lost brother with the same name.

[Jonathan Jefferson · Rating 4 out of 5]

I related to this book in so many ways: The large family dynamics. The upstate and downstate New York experiences. The reflections upon revisiting dairy country after decades past. Beautifully written.

[Ryan Carey · Rating 4 out of 5]

Beautiful, sad and vivid

[Brian Bixler · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book is in the fiction section, but it reads more like a memoir. It's author Dale Peck's tribute to his father whose early life was defined by abject poverty, a brutally abusive mother, an alcoholic father and bullying classmates. When he is taken in by his uncle, barely in his teens, he experiences affection and respect seemingly for the first time in his life and he doesn't know how to handle it. He is ultimately forced to make a decision between his future and his family. The book is very bleak at times and the reader wonders if this young boy can overcome what life has thrown at him. A sample line: "His mouth stretches open as dry heaves seize his body, nearly knocking him over, and the old man lies on the floor in front of him with his hands pressed between his wet thighs, looking for all the world like something the boy has retched up."

[Brian · Rating 2 out of 5]

The first half is good but the second half completely falls apart. Plus, Dale Peck is a loser.

[Beth Shields-Szostak]

1st edition

[Steven Felicelli · Rating 1 out of 5]

the author of this book called Nabokov 'sterile' - and then he wrote this book

[Lawrence · Rating 3 out of 5]

Really enjoyed this book, although I can't help but be disappointed in the last part.

[Nicole · Rating 3 out of 5]

loved this book except for the ending.

[Richard · Rating 4 out of 5]

really quite an achievement. Peck is a very good writer