Closing Time

by Queenan, Joe

• ISBN13: 9780670020638
• ISBN10: 067002063X
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2009-04-16
• Publisher: Viking Pr

Summary

A deeply funny and affecting memoir about a great escape from a childhood of poverty Joe Queenan's acerbic riffs on movies, sports, books, politics, and many of the least forgivable phenomena of pop culture have made him one of the most popular humorists and commentators of our time. In Closing Time Queenan turns his sights on a more serious and personal topic: his childhood in a Philadelphia housing project in the early 1960s. By turns hilarious and heartbreaking, Closing Timerecounts Queenan's Irish Catholic upbringing in a family dominated by his erratic father, a violent yet oddly charming emotional terrorist whose alcoholism fuels a limitless torrent of self-pity, railing, destruction, and late-night chats with the Lord Himself. With the help of a series of mentors and surrogate fathers, and armed with his own furious love of books and music, Joe begins the long flight away from the dismal confines of his neighborhood-with a brief misbegotten stop at a seminary-and into the wider world. Queenan's unforgettable account of the damage done to children by parents without futures and of the grace children find to move beyond these experiences will appeal to fans of Augusten Burroughs and Mary Karr, and will take its place as an autobiography in the classic American tradition.

Author Biography

Joe Queenan is the author of seven books and a regular contributor to The New York Times. His writing has been featured in Time, Newsweek, GQ, Esquire, People, Forbes, and Rolling Stone, among others. He is a frequent guest on network talk shows and has hosted radio programs for the BBC.

Table of Contents

The Man on the Roof	p. 1
Sin City	p. 20
The Predicament	p. 51
Domine, Non Sum Dignus	p. 83
Semper Fidelis	p. 106
The Parting of the Reed Sea	p. 152
Twilight of the Apothecaries	p. 185
C'est magnifique, mais ce n'est pas la guerre	p. 213
Second Fiddle	p. 235
Management Potential	p. 249
Walkabout	p. 284
Closing Time	p. 315
Epilogue	p. 334
Acknowledgments	p. 339
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