Storyline:

In this book, Jim Chambers shows us the views of the Fifties as he remembers them.  It was a fun book for me as I am all about the 50’s.

Jim is a likable guy.  His short stories are definitely fun to read and I always enjoy reading first hand accounts of experiences and eras.

While I enjoyed the book, it was a bit fragmented and difficult to follow.  Jim Chambers writes about many different topics and tends to jump from one to the other and back all in three paragraphs.  I would suggest he either write chapters based solely on one topic or write it as a “101 Things I Remember From the 50’s” style.  The way it is currently written, while the observations and good and funny, distracts you from really absorbing everything he is saying.

In terms of spelling and grammar, nothing screamed out at me in terms of being incorrect.  I just wish there was better organization.

It was a fun book to read if you want a peep show into the 50’s.  If it gets cleaned up and gets a new cover, it wouldn’t be that bad.

Product Description

As one of the first post-WWII Baby Boomers, Jim Chambers’ childhood and early teenage years were in the 1950s, a remarkable decade for the United States that saw enormous political, technological, and cultural changes. Although many books have covered the headline-making events of the era in great detail, few of these books give the reader a real feel for what daily life was like for Americans living in that decade, especially for kids growing up then. The author remembers the little nuts and bolts things of daily life for families during the fascinating decade known as the Fabulous Fifties. “Recollections” perfectly blends paying homage to the little day-to-day rituals with a larger scale examination of social issues and mores of the times, and it’s equally entertaining on either level. “Recollections” is a warm, lovingly honest, and fascinating portrait of America in the mid-20th Century.