Jonathan Lerner’s memoir, Performance Anxiety, has the subtitle: The Headlong Adolescence of a Mid-Century Kid. I remember all those many years ago reading Catcher in the Rye, the groundbreaking fictional account of the life of an American mid-century kid, Holden Caulfield, and being captured by JD Salinger’s writing style. I had never read anything like this before, and I even had an American boyfriend at the time. It felt like I had discovered a new, exotic species!
Jonathan Lerner was an adolescent American kid at that same time and he writes with clear-eyed honesty about what life was like for him. He had experienced life in a foreign country, Taipei, when his father was posted there with the American embassy, which singled him out from other kids; but he was always able to find common ground with new groups when they returned to America, even while inwardly questioning his sexuality and, quite honestly, not knowing the answers. He had to learn over the years what effect the death of his mother when he was sixteen was having on him. His father was quite distant with him, but so were a lot of fathers in those post-war days; the world was still recovering and people were getting used to lives of comfort and opportunity again.
There is much contained in this short book. Jonathan recalls his activism in the anti-segregation movement, as well as lots of encounters and friendships which makes page turning of this heartfelt memoir very easy to do. I would be quite happy for him to expand his memories and fill in some of the spaces he has left one day.
Recommended for readers who appreciate well-written biography.
Published by Resource Publications
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