Neighborhood

by Norbert Blei

Book by Blei, Norbert

272 pages, Hardcover

First published May 1, 1994

Reviews

[Lynette]

Wonderful! I was born in Cicero in 1980, right when the culture really started to change. My family are all Bohemians, and despite having forgotten her native tongue, my grandma kept up a lot of the traditions. I also was involved in Sokol, which also still hangs on desperately to some of the old ways. So much in this book stirred my own memories, as well as recollections of my grandmother telling me of her own childhood.

Even if you're unfamiliar with the area or culture, this well-written book will no doubt stir your senses and evoke memories of your own childhood neighborhood.

Best of all, the descriptions of the food were so overpowering that I'll be making a trip back to the old neighborhood this weekend to get some bakery from Vesecky's (which is still open) and some liver dumpling soup from Josie's. Yum!

[Dan]

Very good. It made me sad that when I lived in the US I did not seek out ethnic neighborhoods in Boston besides China Town. But then, I had no idea that I would move to Hungary or even that my family comes from Hungary, Ukraine, Poland...I wish I could have experienced the local bakery, butchers, roller rink, basement wine maker, mushroom hunter, etc. that he so beautifully evokes. However, I have the "real thing" here. My only complaint is that he should have had the book proofread before publication. It is full of annoying little typographical errors.

[Laddie]

I wouldn't recommend this book unless you are from the Berwyn/Cicero/Lyons/Stickney area. Otherwise you will likely not make any connections to the stories told here. I loved the first 3 chapters the most and especially the one about Vesecky's bakery in Berwyn on Cermak. As a child between age of 9 and 17 it was my job to ride my bike to the bakery in the early morning, grab a paper ticket and get in line with all the babis and dedeceks and hope they didn't run out of all the goodies on my mom's list. While my mom baked probably twice a week, Saturday was still a day that Vesecky's was on the Saturday route. ( and yes I rode my mom's bike because she had the ugly basket on the handlebar)
This book was written around the time of 1950 +/-, so some of the references were unknown to me since I emigrated to Berwyn in 1969 but not a whole lot changed. Sadly, none of what is described in this book is evident. This book is a time capsule of my childhood and to those of my Czech friends who emigrated like myself. I was hoping to give this book 5 stars but there were many chapters that just didn't relate to me. I believe this is because the author of this book was not an immigrant and had his perspective.

[Dee]

Love, love, love this book!! This was my neighborhood!