The Fire Escape Stories

by Chuck Cascio

The Fire Escape Stories, Volume I, is comprised of nine episodes that make up Mike Burns’s strongest childhood memories of living in Brooklyn, New York, in the 1950s. Mike and his cousin, Salvatore “Sally-Boy” Boccanera are born one minute apart, in the same hospital, and it seems like they’ll never be more than a minute apart the rest of their lives. Their experiences knocking around the city are challenging, funny, touching, and at times disturbing—all of the ingredients that define growing up. Life lessons happen in the Italian bakery Sally-Boy’s father owns, where the boys loll and play, with ears and eyes wide open. But maybe the biggest lesson of all looms over Mike’s father, who’s determined to make drastic changes in pursuit of a better life. Hanging in the balance, at the center of the boys’ tumultuous lives, is the fire escape. It’s a place that is uniquely theirs, and Mike best describes its spell, recalling how it reeks in the rain, blisters in the sun, and ices over in the snow. It’s where he and Sally-Boy talk and think and philosophize and plot and try to understand all they can about themselves and the world.

Genres: Fiction

102 pages, Paperback

First published April 8, 2016

Reviews

[Sharon Rainey · Rating 5 out of 5]

Easy read, intriguing, great foreshadowing, and telling without telling. I am anxiously awaiting more volumes! I read this on a rainy day, and it took me straight to Brooklyn. I'm not a New Yorker, but I could taste, smell, hear and see the city block, the bakery, the fire escape. That's a good writer! I'm not a big fiction lover either, but I loved this book. It's about real people. It's not outrageous. It's about a boy and his friendships, relationships with family, school, and the nuns. Truly enjoyable!

[Garth Mailman · Rating 4 out of 5]

Tales of growing up Italian in Brooklyn. Mind you these boys do not speak their parent’s mother tongue and it’s hard to think of a starker contrast than that between the cliffside Amalfi town Sal grew up in and the Brownstones of Brooklyn. The idyllic memories of childhood are counterbalanced by bullies, the Nuns who terrorized their students, the mafia who loaned Sal the cash to start his business and maintained their hooks, a motherless boy.

The author evokes a time and space that lives in one’s memory. The stench of rotting yeast from the brewery that drifts over the boys’ fire escape refuge while the world rolls by seven storeys below them. The aroma of Italian specialties fresh from the oven wafting through the neighbourhood. The sense that it truly takes a village to raise a child.

[Barbara Finazzo · Rating 4 out of 5]

Delightful

Well written story of two young ,cousins as they grow up in Brooklyn. The boys share life on the front stoop of their apartment building. For that was their world until one moves away. This is a short story but one that contains everything necessary to make it a good read. I liked the authors writing style very much also.

[Maria Candela · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved these stories. I spent my early early years living in Brooklyn and I’m Italian, so each story resonated with me and took me back to my childhood. So glad I bought this book and will be following Mr. Cascio for more of his stories.

[Sara · Rating 4 out of 5]

Enjoyable! Will be reading the next one that just came out.

[Vlharr · Rating 1 out of 5]

Wanted to like these stories. Narrative provided by young boy. The object of his affections is a churlish delinquent. Didn't ever feel the connection to any characters, place or this time

[paulette sarelli · Rating 5 out of 5]

Good stories t

Great insight into how it was growing up in MY in an Italian neighborhood. They bond of friendship lasts forever.

[Sandra · Rating 3 out of 5]

Definitely an interesting read of coming of age in Brooklyn in the 1950s. A good purchase for high school.