Stop-Time: A Memoir
by Frank Conroy
|
|
Sign in to Goodreads to see your friends' reviews of this book.
discuss this book
friend reviews (0)
To see what your friends thought of this book, please sign up.
lists with this book
Where's the love? Add this book to your favorite list.
other reviews (showing 1-20 of 167)
"Stop-Time" is such a unique book. The writing is so evocative, making even the most mundane details fascinating. I think if I could make a wish and emulate the writing style of any writer, past or present, I very well might choose Frank Conroy. My favorite passage is Conroy's description of how he used books to escape as a teenager:
"I withdrew into myself and let the long months go by, spending my time reading....Night after night I'd lie in bed, with a glass of milk and a pack...more
"I withdrew into myself and let the long months go by, spending my time reading....Night after night I'd lie in bed, with a glass of milk and a pack...more
Like this review?
yes
(1 person liked it)
add a comment
Read in August, 2005
A strong, stoical memoir, Stop-Time, published in 1967, recounts Conroy’s childhood and adolescence placed inside two narrow contemporary frames: accounts of reckless to the point of suicide/homicide driving from London to the countryside. The prologue and epilogue are both very brief but reveal an adult who should be responsible and perhaps even happy, but clearly is otherwise disturbed. Madness runs, to borrow from “Arsenic and Old Lace,” in Conroy’s family. His dad was in and out of i...more
Like this review?
yes
add a comment
Read in July, 2008
First I say that I don't much like memoirs and then I decide to read two in a row. I've been trying for a month now to figure out how to describe the very specific emotional state that Stop-Time put me in every time I read a chapter and I guess I'm not going to come up with it.
I first heard about this book when Conroy died, and--a...more
I first heard about this book when Conroy died, and--a...more
Like this review?
yes
add a comment
Read in October, 2007
I've heard that this adolescent memoir (a genre I enjoy) set the standard for a lot of contemporary writing of its sort. There've been so many books like it in the intervening years that it probably seems less special now than it did when it was first published. I supposed that's the cross one must bear as an exemplar. It remains worthwhile reading; Conroy's f'ed up childhood makes for good fodder, and reminds me of Richard Yates (though Yates is more self-pitying and pathetic, and I like those ...more
Like this review?
yes
add a comment
Read in December, 2007
Reading this book was like reading Frank Conroy's journal. The book uses a very loose chronological order--most of the time it's nearly impossible to tell where you are in time. Conroy recounts incidents from his childhood, and reflects upon him from his adult perspective. The reflections are cliched, and none of the stories are brought to any kind of satisfying conclusion. He switches constantly between past and present tense, aiming to give some of his memories more emotional resonance. The re...more
Like this review?
yes
1 comments
Conroy's memoir of adolescence - a loosely chronological group of essays - touches upon the naivety, beauty, fear, trembling, and lust of growing up. From yoyoing to masturbation, bribery to hitchhiking, sex to sea sickness, the landscape of youth falls out across the page so defiantly, so honestly, you feel sunk in the text, surrounded. If you're at all curious about the book, read the prologue. If the first page doesn't lay its insistent hands upon you, then you were never going to read the...more
Like this review?
yes
1 comments
Read in July, 2008
recommended to Sam by:
Erin Casper (?)
It's telling that Conroy devotes a chapter to his childhood obsession with mastering the yo-yo, because he *is* a yo-yo (not in the fruitcake/crazy sense). He travels to many different places, only to return to himself.
I would recommend reading this and "A Fan's Notes" in concert as Exley almost wholly avoids childhood and adolescence (Conroy's primary subject) but both men seem to have similar narcissistic/self-destructive/masochistic worldviews.
I would recommend reading this and "A Fan's Notes" in concert as Exley almost wholly avoids childhood and adolescence (Conroy's primary subject) but both men seem to have similar narcissistic/self-destructive/masochistic worldviews.
Like this review?
yes
2 comments
recommends it for:
anyone who enjoys memoirs or appreciates good writing
This is one of my favorite books/audiobooks of all time. Some people consider it the model for memoir-writing. Frank Conroy had one of the most unusual childhoods ever written down. Combining the rich ore of his youth with an unsentimental voice, it is just great.
I had hoped to find another copy of the audiobook to buy, but it has been dropped by Recorded Books.
I had hoped to find another copy of the audiobook to buy, but it has been dropped by Recorded Books.
Like this review?
yes
add a comment
Read in January, 2005
My favorite memoir and my favorite book. Everything about this book is great. It's crisp, it's funny, it's honest, it's true to growing up, it's true to being embarrassed, it's true to being an American, a smart American, and true to being alive. I've read it's made a bunch of writers want to be writers and it did that to me, too.
Like this review?
yes
add a comment
Why haven't I read this book before? I keep meaning to, and meaning to, but like Marilynne Robinson's Housekeeping, it's one of those Iowa classics I haven't made time for. But, I just mooched it (my third successful book mooch acquisition, huzzah!), so we shall see.
Like this review?
yes
add a comment
Read in August, 2008
Well-written memoir of a kid who never quite found himself as a kid, but nevertheless surprised. The life story is compelling but even in the ordinary moments the writing carries this through.
Like this review?
yes
1 comments
Has a copy to sell/swap
recommended to Todd by:
A bookseller on Bedford St. recommends it for: Carnival operators
I'm struggling with this one. The story is good, but it's all so antiquated. Also, there's a scene wherein a carny takes the author's hand and rubs it across the bottom of his testicles.
Like this review?
yes
add a comment
Read in September, 2008
This is a tough one to rate. "Like it"? It's a well-written, brutally honest memoir. I won't go so far as to say I liked it, but as a self-portrait this book is striking and powerful.
Like this review?
yes
add a comment
Read in January, 2007
A memoir that's supposed to be quite influential, but I'd never heard of it even though I'd read Conroy's short stories before. I liked it well enough, but wasn't bowled over by it.
Like this review?
yes
add a comment
Read in January, 1980
I read this back in college. Well written. I liked the details he'd give, of instances, moments.. I'm not one for reading books about adolescents' lives, but this was a good one.
Like this review?
yes
add a comment
I'm very conflicted about Stop Time. It's a beautiful work that constantly asked me why I continued to read (apart from the elegance of the prose).
Like this review?
yes
add a comment
Read in January, 2006
A classic coming of age story by a brilliant writer(and musician). Conroy's output wasn't large but what he did write keeps you turning the pages.
Like this review?
yes
add a comment
Incredible memoir. Beautifully slow, thick description and rich characters. Can't recall another book with a better hold on boyhood.
Like this review?
yes
add a comment
This is wonderful; far surpasses more recent memoirs which have been more celebrated. Picture perfect tone, writing, images, moments.
Like this review?
yes
add a comment
Read in August, 2007
A very solid example of a childhood/adolescence/young adulthood memoir. Great writing: funny, tender, clear-eyed.
Like this review?
yes
add a comment
