Eleven Stories High: Growing Up in Stuyvesant Town, 1948-1968

by Corinne Demas

This memoir evokes a girl's coming of age in a postwar New York City planned, "utopian" community.

Genres: Memoir, New York, Nonfiction

206 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2000

About the author

Corinne Demas is the award-winning author of thirty-nine books, including six novels (Daughters, The Road Towards Home, The Writing Circle), two short story collections, a memoir (Eleven Stories High, Growing Up in Stuyvesant Town, 1948--1968), a poetry chapbook, and numerous books for children (The Littlest Matryoshka, Saying Goodbye to Lulu, The Disappearing Island, The Perfect Tree). She is a Professor Emerita of English at Mount Holyoke College and a Fiction Editor of The Massachusetts Review. Along with her family, two donkeys, and a precocious puppy, she divides her time between Western Massachusetts and Cape Cod, two settings that have inspired her books.

Reviews

[Kathy · Rating 3 out of 5]

I grew up in Stuyvesant Town at almost exactly the same time that is described in this memoir. I of course enjoyed the nostalgic tour through it and also the high school we also shared, often chuckling with familiarity at details not recalled for a very long time. But some of Demas' memories about both, which she clearly thought fully generalizable, do not match mine; this was sometimes amusing and sometimes annoying. The biographical parts that are only loosely related to Stuy Town were of less interest to me. The writing was good enough, but not inspired. Still, a unique and appreciated contribution.

[Sandy · Rating 4 out of 5]

What a trip down memory lane! Growing up in Stuyvesant Town, just like the author, if only a few years later, I can see and hear the echoes of what she writes. My history is on the other side of the Oval, near to 14th St. It had different rhythms abutting the Lower East Side than on 20th St. I was a product of the Public School system rather than Hunter Elementary although I had tested for it and was accepted. A missing chapter would have to include the restaurants of that time - the deli's, the pizza places, the fruit, fish and flower stores. The author is right that Stuy. Town was a middle class enclave where stepping foot inside transported you to a place outside of Manhattan, almost like OZ. Each of us who grew up there had similar stories and wonderful memories. You can't go back again, as that world and time doesn't exist, but reliving the memories is oh so sweet. Thank you for a wonderful read Corinne Demas.

[Sandy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Having grown up in Stuyvesant Town it was like going home again. I lived across the Oval from her and perhaps a few years later than her but it was a magical time to be a kid in New York City and be able to wander at will. Having the safety of Stuy. Town from which to play; having instant friends and neighbors in your building; having a community with similar values but enough diversity to make it interesting; the innocence of the 50's, 60's and 70's; evokes lots of special warm memories.

[Karen · Rating 5 out of 5]

Corinne and I share the same maiden name but are not related. However, we corresponded when I read her book as there were so many parallels in our lives. I loved this book so much! If you were born in Brooklyn, or any part of NY, in the late 40s or early 50s, you will also "get it"!