As the title of Carl Lennertz’s “Cursed by a Happy Childhood: Tales of Growing Up Then and Now” (Random House, 224 pages, $19.95) suggests, this is not one of those angst-ridden, neurosis-filled screeds that pass for reflection today.
Instead, it’s a heartfelt recollection, begun as a remembrance for Lennertz’s 11-year-old daughter, of his fairly idyllic childhood in a little one-stoplight town called Southold on the tip of New York’s Long Island. It was the kind of place, Lennertz realized at some point growing up, that other people came to for their vacations — and he got to live there all the time.
“People flocked to our small, unassuming town every summer, and I guess we were flattered. It’s on the quiet North Fork of Long Island, a few miles but millions of dollars from the chic Hamptons,” Lennertz writes.
New York City, roughly 100 miles distant, was “Oz-like,” way over the western horizon. It’s now where Lennertz lives with his wife and daughter, having decided the city can be as hospitable as the country.
Lennertz is honoring his past, not mourning it. Frequently, his observations wrap up with a piece of gentle, present-day advice, such as this about taking a cue from how children see a day at the park:
“At first, we join in the play, but after the umpteenth push on a swing, our restless adult minds return to thoughts about work or a project around the house that needs doing. We see our day as finite; a child sees it as infinite.”
One chapter — a single page — offers his 10 rules for parent and child. No. 1: “Tattoos are forever.”
That chapter’s unusually short, but most are just a few pages built around universal experiences: pop music, competition, temptation, first jobs, chocolate. Some get pretty syrupy, but it’s easy to skip ahead.
Lennertz entertains and occasionally enlightens. As light summer reading, “Cursed by a Happy Childhood” is worth a look.
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