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Girl in a Sloppy Joe Sweater
Book by Peate, M.
- GenresBiography Memoir
202 pages, Hardcover
First published November 1, 1989
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January 6, 2025
Mary Peate’s forty-year career writing for radio and TV and especially as a newspaper columnist provides the stylistic backbone to this brief memoir of her teenage life in Montreal during WWII. It’s an enjoyable read, touching on everything from wartime rationing and public service to holding hen parties and discussing 1940s jive with Cab Calloway. The book moves through the six years of war quickly and evenly, sometimes too much so—bandleader Glenn Miller’s fatal plane crash gets about as much attention as the death of her father.
The most interesting thing the book taught me: in reaction to a major, deadly theater fire in the 1920s, Quebec banned movie-going for kids under the age of 16 (except for children’s movies) for more than thirty years. If you were 15 you weren’t able to see Casablanca, The Shop Around the Corner, or The Best Years of Our Lives.
The biggest downside is Peate made the unfortunate decision to include reprints of many vintage ads and articles covering news on both the war and home fronts, which I found mostly ineffective. The book was published during the 50th anniversary of the war’s start, so I can see why she wanted to provide that context.
Girl in a Sloppy Joe Sweater is the middle of three memoirs by Peate. I’ll keep an eye out for the other two. (All three books are slim; though I realize it’s incredibly improbable, a single volume would be welcome.)
The most interesting thing the book taught me: in reaction to a major, deadly theater fire in the 1920s, Quebec banned movie-going for kids under the age of 16 (except for children’s movies) for more than thirty years. If you were 15 you weren’t able to see Casablanca, The Shop Around the Corner, or The Best Years of Our Lives.
The biggest downside is Peate made the unfortunate decision to include reprints of many vintage ads and articles covering news on both the war and home fronts, which I found mostly ineffective. The book was published during the 50th anniversary of the war’s start, so I can see why she wanted to provide that context.
Girl in a Sloppy Joe Sweater is the middle of three memoirs by Peate. I’ll keep an eye out for the other two. (All three books are slim; though I realize it’s incredibly improbable, a single volume would be welcome.)
Displaying 1 of 1 review