Rerun Era

by Joanna Howard

Rerun Era is a captivating, propulsive memoir about growing up in the environmentally and economically devastated rural flatlands of Oklahoma, the entwinement of personal memory and the memory of popular culture, and a family thrown into trial by lost love and illness that found common ground in the television. Told from the magnetic perspective of Joanna Howard's past selves from the late '70s and early '80s, Rerun Era circles the fascinating psyches of her part-Cherokee teamster truck-driving father, her women's libber mother, and her skateboarder, rodeo bull-riding teenage brother.

Illuminating to our rural American present, and the way popular culture portrays the rural American past, Rerun Era perfectly captures the irony of growing up in rural America in the midst of nationalistic fantasies of small town local sheriffs and saloon girls, which manifested the urban cowboy, wild west theme-parks, and The Beverly Hillbillies. Written in stunning, lyric prose, Rerun Era gives humanity, perspective, humor, and depth to an often invisible part of this country, and firmly establishes Howard as an urgent and necessary voice in American letters.

Genres: Memoir, Nonfiction, Contemporary

176 pages, Kindle Edition

First published October 15, 2019

Reviews

[Carl Lavigne · Rating 4 out of 5]

In her new memoir, Joanna Howard questions a world where suffering is only acceptable when it is entertaining, when it is something people can watch again and again.

Full review: http://blog.pshares.org/index.php/rer...

[Debra · Rating 5 out of 5]

I can relate.

Rerun Era depicts a certain time, growing up in a certain rural place, watching certain vitally significant television.

I, too, was developmentally changed by M*A*S*H and Hee Haw.

I heard an interview with Howard on our local NPR station. Honestly, the interviewer made this book sound like a light comedy, a book about a youth in Oklahoma that perhaps watched too much TV.

Not so. Howard's book is poetic and heart-wrenching. It's told in a 5-year-old's style of long run-on sentences interspersed with short, terse, child-like observations. There's also lots of exclamation marks as she remembers a time when she wore pink terry cloth rompers (sewn by her grandmother) and tried to understand what was happening to her parents' marriage and her father's health.

Again, I could relate to her observations--the life lessons of Hawkeye, the inane comedy of hillbillies. There really was a rural purge on television (who knew?). She rues the day when the likes of these shows along with McCloud (DENNIS WEAVER!!!!), Little House, and even WKRP ruled the airways only to replaced by Falcon Crest and Dynasty. "Culture is ruled by the whims of the few."

Howard's style might take some getting used to by some. But, I loved the way she captured the sereneness and hopelessness of the country life (where it was at least 40 minutes to a small city) and of that certain time.

"Perhaps the point is in the telling."

[Kiersten · Rating 2 out of 5]

I honestly just got tired of the narrative style and was reading to finish this.

[Brent Legault · Rating 5 out of 5]

(Just so you know, I did not read the "Kindle Edition" of this novel. I have never read the "Kindle Edition" of anything. Nor will I.)

This book is hilarious, especially the first 60 or 80 pages. It grows more serious toward the end. I'm not sure why. It was doing so well with the funny stuff.

About the funny stuff: if you are not a member of the coolest generation (that's X, by the way), you may not get many of the pop culture references (unless you are a big fan of 70's and 80's tv), but that's ok, you'll still laugh, though perhaps not always for the same reasons as somebody who soaked up broadcast, network television.

One other note. Back in the early 90's, I took a writing class with Richard Wiley (1987's Pen/Faulkner award winner!) and the first story I submitted had a couple of references to Scooby-Doo. Mr. Wiley did not appreciate or understand these references and told me that if I wanted to become a "real writer," I'd better drop them. Hmph.

[E. · Rating 2 out of 5]

My new office admin said she had a former teacher from the same hometown as me and that she had also written a memoir. What's most funny is that I can't place Joanna Howard, who appears to be only a couple years younger than I am and grew up in the same small town.

It was strange and fascinating to read perspective on some of the same places and influences that was only slightly skewed from my own and yet very different. One startling realization was how much it mattered which part of town you grew up in, even when the total size of the place isn't very big.

[Margie · Rating 5 out of 5]

4.5 rounded up. This is a physically very small book with a cover design that made me think I was going to get something light and perhaps humorous. But I too am 'a woman of a certain age' and in this short memoir Howard artfully captures both the era and an affecting family story. For this reader, Gen X nostalgia is surely part of the magic but it's the lovely prose and non-annoying child narrator that made it work.

[Kathryn LaMontagne · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is really good and really sad, the perspective is really interesting and compelling. This is directly addressed in one chapter but the affects are seen throughout the book but It is a story shaped by the experience of living near a massive superfund site and how that affects the way the narrator interacts with & doesn’t interact with nature and the ways people in their community get sick and die and mostly stay inside :/

[Meagan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Beautifully written, very captivating narration. Joanna does a great job of bringing you with her to when she was five years old and dreaming of reruns.

[Hans · Rating 4 out of 5]

Joanna Howard's memoir has many touchstones for children of the 1970s and 1980s, especially those who grew up in rural areas. I found myself nodding, chuckling, and connecting with many pieces of her family's story. This is a quick, evocative read in a typically-stunning McSweeney's package, including some perfect cover and end-paper illustrations by Louise Zergaeng Pomeroy.

The current pandemic is making it much easier to grab books from my shelves, rather than libraries and bookstores. It's fun to discover the contents of the beautiful books that have been waiting patiently so close at hand.

[Pam · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a strange little book that takes a bit of getting used to, but from the very beginning I loved it. It is so refreshingly different, and insightful. And I read it in one sitting. It's written as stream of consciousness from a 5-year-old's point of view, yet with the wisdom of the ageless.

[Nathan · Rating 3 out of 5]

🌟🌟🌟
–
“Reruns are sometimes the future.”
–
Rerun Era is a little memoir about growing up poor in rural America with parents doing the best they can. Howard’s sparse style is rich with humor and her childhood is recognizable to those of us from small towns. This touching, quick read fits perfectly in the McSweeney’s family.

[Bailey · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved Rereun Era. Very funny and such a unique perspective. My nephew is 5 and is always on tears running around. The narrator reminded me so much of him. My nephew has verbal communication issues, so imagining all of the things he might be thinking and perceiving through this 5 year-old narrator was fascinating.

[tenseManatee · Rating 3 out of 5]

A book that honestly didn’t need to be written. About a daughter and a father and written in sometimes to spare pride, it’s a boring, quick book where truthfully nothing of note happens. The author may have had something to say but it certainly Wasn’t interesting.

[MandM · Rating 2 out of 5]

2.5
I thought the idea of telling about your childhood through reruns and characters on TV was a great idea and although there was substance and heartache in the story it just didn’t invoke the feelings I thought it could have.

[Lukas Evan · Rating 3 out of 5]

I read this whole book thinking it was short stories instead of a memoir. Huh.

[Olivia Seward · Rating 5 out of 5]

the girls who get it, will be deeply moved my this book. my heart goes out to us all