My Childhood in Pieces: A Stand-Up Comedy, a Skokie Elegy

by Edward Hirsch

From the award-winning poet, dark comic microbursts of prose deliver a whole childhood, at the hands of a not quite middle-class Jewish family whose hardboiled American brutality and wit were the forge of a poet's coming of age.

"My grandparents taught me to write my sins on paper and cast them into the water on the first day of the New Year. They didn’t expect an entire book," Hirsch says in the "prologue" to this glorious festival of knife-sharp observations. In micro chapters—sometimes only a single scathing sentence long—with titles like "Call to Breakfast," "Pay Cash," "The Sorrow of Manly Sports," and "Aristotle on Lawrence Avenue," Eddie's gambling father, Ruby, son of an iron-smelter, schools him and his sister in blackjack; Eddie's mom bangs pots and pans to wake the kids (to a breakfast of cold cereal); Uncle Bob, in the collection business, can be heard threatening people on the upstairs phone; and nobody suffers fools or gives hugs. In this household, Eddie learned to jab with his left and hook with his right, never to kid a kidder, and how to sneak out at night.

Steeped in rage and exuberance, Yiddishkeit and Midwestern practicality, Hirsch's laugh-and-cry performance animates a heartbreaking odyssey, from the cradle to the day he leaves home, armed with sorrow and a huge store of killing poetic wit.

Genres: Memoir, Nonfiction, Audiobook, Poetry, Biography, Jewish, Autobiography

276 pages, Hardcover

Published June 3, 2025

About the author

Edward Hirsch is a celebrated poet and peerless advocate for poetry. He was born in Chicago in 1950—his accent makes it impossible for him to hide his origins—and educated at Grinnell College and the University of Pennsylvania, where he received a Ph.D. in Folklore. His devotion to poetry is lifelong.He has received numerous awards and fellowships, including a MacArthur Fellowship, a Guggenheim Fellowship, an Ingram Merrill Foundation Award, a Pablo Neruda Presidential Medal of Honor, the Prix de Rome, and an Academy of Arts and Letters Award. In 2008, he was elected a Chancellor of the Academy of American Poets.
bio-img
Edward Hirsch’s first collection of poems, For the Sleepwalkers (1981), received the Delmore Schwartz Memorial Award from New York University and the Lavan Younger Poets Award from the Academy of American Poets. His second collection, Wild Gratitude (1986), won the National Book Critics Award.
Since then, he has published six additional books of poems: The Night Parade (1989), Earthly Measures (1994),On Love (1998), Lay Back the Darkness (2003), Special Orders (2008), and The Living Fire: New and Selected Poems (2010), which brings together thirty-five years of poems.Hirsch is also the author of five prose books, including A Poet’s Glossary (2014), the result of decades of passionate study, Poet’s Choice (2006), which consists of his popular columns from the Washington Post Book World, and How to Read a Poem and Fall in Love with Poetry (1999), a national bestseller. He is the editor of Theodore Roethke’s Selected Poems (2005) and co-editor of The Making of a Sonnet: A Norton Anthology (2008). He also edits the series “The Writer’s World” (Trinity University Press).Edward Hirsch taught for six years in the English Department at Wayne State University and seventeen years in the Creative Writing Program at the University of Houston. He is now president of the
John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation.

Reviews

[David · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love how richly Hirsch portrays his family members who, despite having some vices, quirks and manipulative (Irma) tendencies still come out as endearing and full of humor. What could be traumatizing, uncomfortable, or cruel events are looked back on with humor, irony, and mature perspective. You truly grow up with him throughout the book.

[Vanessa · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a fun and funny look into the author's life growing up. Thank you to the author, publisher, and Goodreads for this free copy.

[SundayAtDusk · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is one of those memoirs that tells the author's life story in short memories, one after another. Usually, I am not a fan of such memoirs. One reason being I see them as a too easy way of writing, even a lazy way of writing. Another reason is because they are often "free association" type books, which I often find irritating. The bottom line is, though, did the memoir successfully paint a good portrait of the author's life? Yes, this one did. Moreover, it's not really "free association", but narration broken up into smaller pieces. Since Edward Hirsch is a poet, one can expect a freer type of narration.

What do we learn about the author's life? We learn all about his childhood up until he leaves for college. His feelings about the day he left were moving. Short but still moving. He was moving on with his life past all the days and nights in a Jewish family in Chicago, where he was very close to his sister Lenie. Born in 1950, Mr. Hirsch grew up in two of the most exciting decades and had all sorts of stories to tell about those years. Some stories were funny, but I am not sure I fully understand his subtitle A Stand-Up Comedy. Besides his parents and two sisters, there were lots of extended relatives, friends and neighbors, too, which sometimes got confusing who was who. Not too confusing, mind you, but still confusing enough that I wasn't sure at all times who he was talking about.

Whenever I read a book about a poet, I go online and search for some of their poetry. Much of the time I don't like the poems I read. For example, Sylvia Plath's life was interesting and I have read quite a bit about her, but I can't stand her poetry. Edward Hirsch was fortunately no Sylvia Plath. I liked the poems I read and possibly even understood most of them. Also, reading Mr. Hirsch's memoir and poems has made me think I need to write more poetry. Or maybe I'll start a memoir that consists of one short memory after another . . . .


(Note: I received a free e-ARC of this book from the publisher or author.)

[Rachel · Rating 4 out of 5]

Poet, author, and scholar Edward Hirsch tells the story of his childhood in ​“microchap­ters," short vignettes, poems and jokes filled with deadpan humor, wit and heart. He also tells the story of the Jewish experience in American between the 1950's and 1970's, particularly in Chicago, Skokie and the surrounding suburbs. The Kirkus review sums it up perfectly: Hirsch "channels the voices and personalities of his Chicagoland Jewish childhood to create a memoir composed of jokes and short vignettes, one setup-and-punchline after another—probably surprising himself as much as the reader when the gimmick holds up for nearly 300 pages, until the author leaves home for college at Grinnell (my alma mater too!) . . . Though he’s toned it down a bit since the days of using the f-word in high school, in essence he’s still that guy: sometimes silly, sometimes off-color, often Yiddish-flavored, with a penchant for puns and dad jokes that never quits." Despite reading like a stand-up comedy routine, Hirsch's story is not without tsuris, trauma, and family dysfunction. As he wrote in the acknowledgements: "This book is dedicated to my sister Lenie. We lived through everything together. We share a sense of humor and a history. She has vetted my stories, but she also remembers our childhood as traumatic. I prefer to recall it otherwise. Her way was more expensive. It required psychoanalysis.” Hirsch narrates the audiobook and his delivery lacked emotion most of the time and was almost too deadpan. Still delightful and compelling, I probably would have enjoyed the book more in print.

[William · Rating 3 out of 5]

It's impossible to see the MacArthur winning poet in this collection of glib snippets, but I guess it's okay. I always wonder how anyone remembers all this stuff. In the end, for the most part this is like cotton candy, enjoyable but insubstantial, perhaps intentionally so. I'm not sure what kind of introduction this is to the Jewish American experience for those who do not know it. As a former high school teacher, this seems to me more about being a teenager.

I expect I am among those readers who read this in anticipation of family nostalgia, and I did share a number of Hirsch's adolescent family experiences. (1) Penny candy, dots on paper, nik-l-nips; (2) My father would only eat pig when it was not called "pork." Pork chops were out, but bacon was fine. (3) My father always carried a wad of bills, with the lowest denomination on the outside. (4) My mother, too, threw out my baseball cards. (5) My mother hated receiving gifts and always returned them. (5) My father also told me: "It's as easy to marry a rich girl as a poor one."

But as a reading experience, there are too many relatives to keep track of, and Hirsch's countless girlfriends, who generally make cameo experiences, get pretty tedious. There is a Henny Youngman quality to these brief takes, all pretty glib and while some are indeed funny, a lot of them are pretty meh. And it is a bit worrisome that people unfamiliar with the subject will get their sense of American Jewishness from this set of quick autobiographical takes.

[David Curry · Rating 5 out of 5]

Edward Hirsch, one of my favorite living American poets, has at the age of 75 gifted us with a richly enjoyable memoir of growing up in Skokie, Illinois, a near suburb of Chicago. MY CHILDHOOD IN PIECES: A STAND-UP COMEDY, A SKOKIE ELEGY is a light enough experience to qualify as a beach read, yet the book also strikes some deep, haunting chords.

The “pieces” — some just a few sentences long, others extending to a page — succeed in making Jewish-American experience and humor universal, as when Hirsch’s grandfather explains to him as a boy that a bagel is a delivery system for cream cheese.



Another memory of his grandfather: “Our grandfather had another heart attack. They wouldnt let Lenie and me in the hospital to visit. We stood on the hood of a car in the parking lot across the street. We could see him in the window on the fifth floor. He was tall and distant in his hospital gown. We waved to him wildly. He kissed his fingers and pressed them to the glass.” Now that’s the sort of thing that memory is for, isn’t it?

Hirsch’s mother was evidently difficult, but she could certainly get off some zingers: “I was puzzling over the idea of universality during the Enlightenment. ‘You want a universal truth,’ Mom told me. ‘Women like shoes.’”

This is a book that will have you laughing, occasionally nodding your head in recognition, and turning the pages eager to see what’s going to happen next or who’s going to say what.

[TBS · Rating 5 out of 5]

It’s hard for me to have the objectivity to evaluate this book because I know the areas Edward Hirsch writes about and they are folded into many of my early childhood memories, some of them resurfacing later in life. I was greatly moved but wonder if others not having had the Niles (IL) Township anointment would have a similar reaction. Still it would be hard for anyone not to appreciate, the dark humor, craft and pathos of Hirsch’s descriptions of his dysfunctional family: his dodgy, erratic, charming, gambling father and his string of girlfriends, his even more erratic, overbearing, at times horrifying, but hilarious mother as well as his steadfast younger sister riding out the family tornados with him. Hirsch takes us from his birth to his high school graduation and brings in everyone and everything to his memory vision. This includes his even younger half-sister, grandparents, stepfather, best friends, a raft of aunts and uncles, coaches, teachers, and neighbors, stores, restaurants, parks, streets, and generous splashes of history spun out in a hybrid prose/poetry form. And there are so many punchlines, good ones, along with mundane moments layered on each other to create a chaotic, disturbing, rich and indelible life. Recommended even for those outside the township limits.

[Rachel]

Reading “My Childhood in Pieces: A Stand-up Comedy, a Skokie Elegy” by Edward Hirsch (Alfred A. Knopf) and Rachel J. Lithgow’s “My Year of Bad Dates” (She Writes Press) for this review left me with a question to ponder: What’s the point of writing a memoir? I’m not asking that because these books weren’t worth reading, but rather because the authors not only focused on very different parts of their lives, but they also approach the material from very different points of view. For example, when authors write about difficult times in their lives – I’ve yet to read a memoir where someone focuses on a good period – they are usually processing the traumas that occurred. However, Hirsch is accurate when describing his work as “stand-up comedy”: the mostly very short vignettes about his childhood left me expecting to hear a drum rimshot highlighting the punch line. While Lithgow does include humor in her work, her focus is more on the anguish and distress she felt. Hirsch seems to be distancing himself from the pain, while Lithgow highlights those feelings. The dates she describes are really a jumping-off point for her in-depth review of her past in order to understand her present.
See the rest of my review at https://www.thereportergroup.org/book...

[Zibby Owens · Rating 5 out of 5]

This humorous and haunting memoir presents a collection of stories about growing up in a Jewish family in mid-century America. The author's recollections unfold through a series of darkly comic vignettes, creating a narrative mosaic that balances humor and heartbreak. Through these episodes, we witness the emotional logic of a child, observing how they absorb family dynamics, how sarcasm can become a second language, and how love can be expressed in hurtful ways.

Hirsch's wit is dry, incisive, and often laugh-out-loud funny, but it never crosses into cruelty. Instead, he uses humor as both a shield and a lens, offering us insights that have been earned through decades of reflection. The memoir's structure, broken into titled bursts of prose, mirrors the erratic flow of memory itself, giving readers space to pause, reflect, and feel.

To listen to my interview with the author, go to my podcast at:
https://shows.acast.com/moms-dont-hav...

[Jaylene Telford · Rating 5 out of 5]

As a longtime admirer of Edward Hirsch—Gabriel: A Poem is my favorite poem ever—I knew this memoir would resonate with me, and it did. Hirsch captures the mundane and the life-changing with humor and sensitivity. I love how Hirsch can write one or two nuanced sentences and completely introduce you to a character. The book’s structure is unique, composed of fragmented memories and reflections rather than a traditional narrative. I appreciated this approach, as it mirrors the way we often recall childhood which can be disjointed.

That said, I’d hesitate to recommend this book without warning the potential reader that Hirsch is a poet. Readers unfamiliar with his work should expect him playing with structure and punctuation. Still, for those willing to embrace the style, My Childhood in Pieces is a deeply affecting read.

Thank you to NetGalley for providing a copy in exchange for an honest review.

[Carolyn Crocker · Rating 3 out of 5]

Poet Edward Hirsch remembers his childhood and dysfunctional family in a goulash of snippets, observations, brief takes, and caricatures that revel in the times and culture of Skokie. Overall, very matter-of-fact and amusing-- the worse things were, the funnier the story-- and the tone is unfailingly true and remarkably compassionate.

"A Competitive Sport
In our family humor was a competitive sport. In competitive sports, people get injuries. It's an unfortunate part of the game.
My dad was left out of the game because his sense of humor was in question. But he didn't seem to know he'd been benched.
The School of Hard Knocks was a houseful of insults." p. 97

[Nicole · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is the most accurate memoir title ever. This was told in pieces, like little snippets of stories that, as a whole, make one big story but on their own are a quick joke. And they were funny. I listened to the audiobook and think this format would’ve actually worked better in writing but I was still entertained. As always, I prefer a linear narrative, but this was funny and I generally enjoyed it. Not laugh out loud funny, but a clever smirking-as-I-listen funny, with surprise connections and unexpected jokes.

[Paulatics · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book was funny, heartbreaking, and very reminiscent of my life. My parents did or said some of the same things. Spoke Yiddish to keep secrets from the children. My brother and his family lived in Skokie. I laughed and I flipped out several times.

[jean]

This is a clever form to write a memoir in and the writing is first rate, descriptive and funny. It didn’t work for me however because of the short paragraphs, each being titled format, I found it broke up the narrative too much for me. DNF.

[Robert Kotzen · Rating 5 out of 5]

Caught an interview by accident with the author on NPR in the summer. Maybe it's not a classic 5 star volume, but I found it a fun read and quite relatable, especially for someone of similar age and background. At times it even reads as poetry (but not the rhyming kind...).

[Jan Takehara · Rating 5 out of 5]

Funny, big-hearted, beautifully written memoir - and that is my objective take, despite the fact that his friend Michael was my first college love. I also married a man from Skokie and worked for 4 years at Rush North Shore Hospital. Thank you, Ed, for this wonderful book!

[Nadine · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book contains a lot of pathos and gritty reality. A memoir of a working class boy of the 1950s told with irony and affection in a poetic stream-of-consciousness style that despite having little in common, I totally related to Hirsch's experiences.

[Ingunn Pat-El · Rating 3 out of 5]

I know this book was not written for me. I do not like poetry. I do not like vignettes. I do not like an overuse of simplistic langauge, continual short sentences or football. If you like any of these things, read away. I do not

[Amelia Lineberger · Rating 4 out of 5]

read this for a class. overall, pretty good memoir! very relatable memories that readers can connect to their own lives. accessible style, and a breeze to read. loved the inclusion of pictures, and how real everything felt as a whole.

[Marsha · Rating 3 out of 5]

Having grown up in Skokie, it was a nice walk back in time. A light easy read.

[Delia · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved the format of little blurbs that tell the story. Great book!

[Ellen Schnepper · Rating 5 out of 5]

A delight. Even better if you know Skokie.

[Thomas Hilton · Rating 5 out of 5]

A very entertaining and easy to read book detailing growing up in a Jewish family and the inevitable clashes with suburban Chicago life. Several laugh out loud moments.

[Sharon Johnson]

The author uses a unique writing style written in brief blurbs to tell his story from childhood to adulthood.

[Anna Cass · Rating 3 out of 5]

This one sounded to me like I should love it, but I never really got into it. I grudgingly round up my 2.5 stars, but I'm also glad so many of you are liking it a lot more than I managed to!

[Christine Kuffel]

Cool format. Just wasn't for me.

[Gail · Rating 4 out of 5]

I don’t know, maybe I DO like poetry.

[Robin Winer · Rating 3 out of 5]

The storytelling through anecdotes can be challenging but it drew me in. Wanted to see what happened to all the characters. Interesting history of Skokie and Niles.

[Gregg · Rating 5 out of 5]

A outstanding comedy. Dad jokes. Fragmentary memoir of growing up in Skokie. Who knew there were Jews in Illinois.

[Brandi · Rating 3 out of 5]

I picked this book because I liked the cover, and I enjoy a good memoir about growing up in America and the different stories we hear from different parts of the country.

I thought the author did a great job using his humor in his writing. It was overall a very fun read.

Thank you Knopf and Net Galley for an advanced copy of this book.