Copyright 2020 by David Benjamin. Published by Last Kid Books, Madison WI.
Full disclosure: the author is a friend. A very good, lifelong friend. We met in high school, in Madison WI in 1963. That is particularly relevant because this book is set in a high school in Madison WI in 1963. It is semi-autobiographical. The protagonist, Cribbsy, a 16-year-old wiseass aspiring author is Benjamin, for sure. Some of the other characters – but not all – are identifiable as people I know and grew up with. I see myself in one of the characters and many of the places are both real and very familiar. That familiarity makes this book exceptionally interesting to me.
But I believe anyone would find this book interesting. It is a fascinating look back at the turbulent month of November 1963, when Kennedy was shot. But, despite the title, this is not about Kennedy, nor the assassination, except as a backdrop to the adolescent drama and angst of a fascinating group of teens.
The characters are complex and fully developed. Their problems are real – sometimes shockingly real – and the narrative is amusing and chock full of literary references. I laughed, I cried. I even, occasionally, had to put the book down and reflect on that period in my life. And interspersed with the witty prose are real headlines and snippets of news articles from November 1963. For those old enough to have lived through that month, it it a collage of news that I had forgotten which made me realize both how much things have changed (e.g., all the references to “Negroes”) and how much they are still the same (e.g., the overwrought reactions to social change). There are also quotes from JFK, presented in a different font, which in counterpoint to the other nonsense, make him seem like an absolute oracle of the times.
How much did I like this book? It is 568 pages and I finished it in a week. That is over 80 pages per day. I haven’t read a book that fast in… well, forever.
9.5 out of 10. Maybe I would have given it a 10 if Cribbsy had gotten the girl. But that wouldn’t have been Cribbsy. And, in a way, he did get the girl. You will see what I mean.