Kraft, Eric. Little Follies: the Personal History, Adventure, Experiences and Observations of Peter Leroy (So Far). New York: Crown Publishers, 1992.
Little Follies takes us back to Peter Leroy’s memories of childhood, growing up in the 50s. Each chapter was previously a short story and put together they pay homage to a classic American boyhood. There are nine novellas in all: My Mother Takes a Tumble, Do Clams Bite?, Life on the Bolotomy, The Static of the Spheres (my favorite), The Fox and the Clam, The Girl with the White Fur Muff, Take the Long Way Home, Call Me Larry and The Young Tars. Every story is so honest you get the sense there is a little (or a lot) of Eric Kraft’s own childhood in each one. I chose Static of the Spheres as my favorite because everything about it is so nostalgic and true. There’s grandpa, determined to build his grandson a shortwave radio. His tenacious ambition doesn’t allow him to give up even when the entire project is threatened by a flood in the basement. Then there’s the grandson, determined to love this radio, even when all the finished product produces is static.
Favorite line, “I knew that I was up to my knees in a disaster” (p 184).
Reason read: to continue the series started in February in honor of Kraft’s birth month.
Author fact: This is a few years old, but Bomb Magazine has a great interview with Kraft here.
Book trivia: Little Follies includes illustrations.
BookLust Twist: from Book Lust in the chapter called “Eric Kraft: Too Good To Miss” (p 140).
~*LunaSea*~ 