Raised in New York city in the 1970’s and early 1980’s, Josh Karlen’s parents split up when he was in grade school. His mother moved to the part of New York with her new husband and children, referred to as the Alphabet City. It was not a nice part of the city at all but Josh’s mom reassured her children that it was going to be gentrified soon. Besides, there apartment was really nice.
That was little reassurance to her two young boys who kept getting mugged and beaten for as little as a carton of milk or just because. In Lost Lustre, Josh Karlen re-lives those years growing up on C Avenue. He also tells about his best friend, Tim Jordon who was in a band called the Lustres’.
This memoir is really a book of essays that could stand along from each other. Karlen goes back and forth from adult to childhood, so it’s not exactly in chronological order. Some essays worked better for me then others.
In ‘Farwell, Avenue C. He recalled the violent neighbourhood he was in and how his mother ignored the complaints and bruises of her children. I get that it was really harsh however, it was a fairly long essay and got quite repetitive, IMO. However, I could really relate to ‘My Sixties,” since I was born just a year before Mr. Karlen. In ‘Lost Lustre,’ Mr Karlen pays tribute to his friend Tim Jordon, and his band the Lustres. He reminisced with old friends for this book and recounted Tim’s addiction to drugs and alcohol and his untimely death in his late twenties. It was quite touching in parts and again, got a bit repetitive. My favourite essays was ‘The Hotel 17 Revisited.’ This is where he recounts his first love in high school. It was quite poignant .
3/5
Thanks to Lisa of TLC Book Tours for including me in the tour and for arranging for me to receive a copy of Lost Lustre for review.
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