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Boy Wonders: A memoir
In this intimate and humorous memoir about how childhood passions shape our adult selves, Cathal Kelly probes his youthful obsessions--from Star Wars to the Blue Jays, The Lord of the Rings to The Smiths.
Vividly recalling a time when wearing a zippered, chainmail-laden Michael Jackson jacket seemed like a good idea, and The Beachcombers --"an adventure show about logging"--seemed to make sense, Kelly recounts growing up in the 1980s in a working-class Irish household as the son of a tough Catholic mother and a largely absent and abusive alcoholic father. Navigating an often fraught and always bewildering youth, Kelly sought refuge in comics, books, bands, games, movies and TV. But looking back, he realizes that his obsession with Dungeons and Dragons or Who Framed Roger Rabbit was never just about the game or movie, but about the joy in discovery and the creation of an identity.
I was almost nine years old when I began digging the hole. I picked a spot near the rear of our backyard. How far will the hole go, people asked. I wasn't sure. Once you've gone through the trouble of starting a hole, you don't want to limit yourself.
From then on I would think of everything I did, every exploration, every falling down the wormhole of a new obsession, every occasion that seemed a portent of something as more important than itself in the terms of digging that hole. That's what we do in life--we dig. Occasionally, we get somewhere, discover some small treasure. More often, the hole collapses in on us. Or we fill it in. And then we dig again.
As life goes on, digging seems less momentous because it has become a habit. Somewhere between 10 and 20, you stop digging for its own sake, and begin digging for something specific--a job, a relationship, money, admiration, an escape.
Like your perception of time, once you cross over from one to the other, there is no going back. All that remains is the echo of how it once felt, and a nostalgia for those careless times.
Vividly recalling a time when wearing a zippered, chainmail-laden Michael Jackson jacket seemed like a good idea, and The Beachcombers --"an adventure show about logging"--seemed to make sense, Kelly recounts growing up in the 1980s in a working-class Irish household as the son of a tough Catholic mother and a largely absent and abusive alcoholic father. Navigating an often fraught and always bewildering youth, Kelly sought refuge in comics, books, bands, games, movies and TV. But looking back, he realizes that his obsession with Dungeons and Dragons or Who Framed Roger Rabbit was never just about the game or movie, but about the joy in discovery and the creation of an identity.
I was almost nine years old when I began digging the hole. I picked a spot near the rear of our backyard. How far will the hole go, people asked. I wasn't sure. Once you've gone through the trouble of starting a hole, you don't want to limit yourself.
From then on I would think of everything I did, every exploration, every falling down the wormhole of a new obsession, every occasion that seemed a portent of something as more important than itself in the terms of digging that hole. That's what we do in life--we dig. Occasionally, we get somewhere, discover some small treasure. More often, the hole collapses in on us. Or we fill it in. And then we dig again.
As life goes on, digging seems less momentous because it has become a habit. Somewhere between 10 and 20, you stop digging for its own sake, and begin digging for something specific--a job, a relationship, money, admiration, an escape.
Like your perception of time, once you cross over from one to the other, there is no going back. All that remains is the echo of how it once felt, and a nostalgia for those careless times.
288 pages, Hardcover
Published September 25, 2018
10 people are currently reading
168 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 43 reviews
November 1, 2018
It's unfair and draws unintended parallels, but the entire time I read this I kept thinking of Jian Ghomeshi's attempt at taking us back to his childhood in the 80's growing up in Southern Ontario with his debut 1982. Like Jian, Cathal Kelly is a bit of a minor celebrity - a regular sports columnist for the Globe and Mail. But unlike Jian he's never been accused of sexual misconduct, and subsequently tried to make a whining comeback in the midst of the #MeToo moment. He's also a better writer than Jian but shares his shaggy dog style that is more tell than show. Strangely both books even feature a handful of lists.
Boy Wonders is still a wonderful account of growing up in Southern Ontario in the 70's and 80's. it hits all the familiar sweet spots of my childhood. Star Wars, bad TV, questionable decisions, and regrettable fashion choices. Cathal hits some beautiful notes over the course of the book and he manages to avoid having it devolve into narcissistic navel gazing. He's a likeable narrator with a collection of quick, thoughtful hits of a time I remember fondly as well. What's not to like?
This review is starting to feel a bit like the book, a tad rambling, somewhat wordy, but still entirely serviceable and good-natured. I'll damn the book further with the faint praise of "I liked it!"
Boy Wonders is still a wonderful account of growing up in Southern Ontario in the 70's and 80's. it hits all the familiar sweet spots of my childhood. Star Wars, bad TV, questionable decisions, and regrettable fashion choices. Cathal hits some beautiful notes over the course of the book and he manages to avoid having it devolve into narcissistic navel gazing. He's a likeable narrator with a collection of quick, thoughtful hits of a time I remember fondly as well. What's not to like?
This review is starting to feel a bit like the book, a tad rambling, somewhat wordy, but still entirely serviceable and good-natured. I'll damn the book further with the faint praise of "I liked it!"
May 8, 2021
Kelly is lost as only a sports writer (IMHO) - these essays about growing up in Toronto, are beautifully written and cover many topics, including fighting, hockey, books, religion, sharing a room, football, and hair styles. At times funny, then heart- breaking, each story ends beautifully - my favourite ending? “ ...but recognizing that for some people who come to it early and without being forced, life is a long search for the next great book.”
September 29, 2018
Definitely put a smile on my face!
December 28, 2024
my agenda for 2025 is getting more people to read this book. it’s a memoir by a columnist for the globe and mail who grew up in toronto, and i think part of my enjoyment comes from how delightfully canadian it is at times. but it’s also so much more than that. i read for the first time a while ago, but i reread it over winter break and no book has seen me read passages aloud to those around me (my family) more frequently (this is not as insufferable as it sounds - the book is a favourite with my family and before it was ever published lines would be read aloud from cathal kelly’s articles in the newspaper regularly in our household).
the memoir is funny and oddly sweet and has a way of capturing thoughts and experiences you have had in words that you are not witty enough to have come up with yourself. a delightful read.
the memoir is funny and oddly sweet and has a way of capturing thoughts and experiences you have had in words that you are not witty enough to have come up with yourself. a delightful read.
November 23, 2018
I appreciate how Kelly acknowledges that his memories may be inaccurate, but they can still be springboards for insightful and entertaining cultural analysis.
September 4, 2019
Boy Wonders: A Memoir is an autobiography written by Cathal Kelly. This memoir chronicles his life written in twenty-two personal essays.
Cathal Kelly is a Canadian writer, who won the Stephen Leacock Memorial Medal for Humour for this book and a sports columnist for The Globe and Mail.
The best writers keep a steely grip on their childhood memories and Cathal Kelly is no exception. His memoir, which ends around the age of twenty-five, unfolds in self-contained chapters, each capturing moments that helped him piece together the person he becomes. Kelly is one of Canada's finest sports writers and also a natural storyteller with a deep streak of self-deprecating humor.
Cathal Kelly grew up in the seventies and eighties and his youth was a time of wonder, obsession and discovery. Navigating an often fraught family life, Kelly sought refuge in books, music, movies, games and at least one backyard hole. However, looking back he sees that his passions was never just the passion itself, but the promise each new experience offered him in making sense of the world, and how he might find a home within it.
Boy Wonders: A Memoir is written rather well. It is personal, funny, elegiac and insightful – it is an unvarnished celebration of growing up and stumbling toward identity. It's about the good and the bad of those brief years when we find purpose without end, obsession without limit and joy in the strangest of places.
All in all, Boy Wonders: A Memoir is a wonderfully collection of twenty-two personal essays about growing up and finding one's identity.
Cathal Kelly is a Canadian writer, who won the Stephen Leacock Memorial Medal for Humour for this book and a sports columnist for The Globe and Mail.
The best writers keep a steely grip on their childhood memories and Cathal Kelly is no exception. His memoir, which ends around the age of twenty-five, unfolds in self-contained chapters, each capturing moments that helped him piece together the person he becomes. Kelly is one of Canada's finest sports writers and also a natural storyteller with a deep streak of self-deprecating humor.
Cathal Kelly grew up in the seventies and eighties and his youth was a time of wonder, obsession and discovery. Navigating an often fraught family life, Kelly sought refuge in books, music, movies, games and at least one backyard hole. However, looking back he sees that his passions was never just the passion itself, but the promise each new experience offered him in making sense of the world, and how he might find a home within it.
Boy Wonders: A Memoir is written rather well. It is personal, funny, elegiac and insightful – it is an unvarnished celebration of growing up and stumbling toward identity. It's about the good and the bad of those brief years when we find purpose without end, obsession without limit and joy in the strangest of places.
All in all, Boy Wonders: A Memoir is a wonderfully collection of twenty-two personal essays about growing up and finding one's identity.
March 16, 2021
Really enjoyed the book. Many familiar touchstones even though I’m a generation older than Cathal. I’d like to see a follow up book to shed light on how he shed his miscreant background to become a thriving member of society. It didn’t look like he was going there.
September 4, 2019
Just fabulous.
Read
February 1, 2020I started out liking this book and laughed out loud in several places in the beginning, but by the end I really disliked this guy. It felt like the book descended into a long brag about how unconventional, cool, and tough he was as a teenager. Meh, that doesn't impress me anymore.
July 16, 2020
It may be because I also grew up close to Toronto in the ‘80s and ‘90s, but Cathal conjured up that familiar sweetness of childhood memories.
Books that make you laugh out loud are hard to come by, and this one has a few of those special moments.
Books that make you laugh out loud are hard to come by, and this one has a few of those special moments.
April 19, 2019
Award-winning Canadian sportswriter Cathal Kelly on growing up in 1980s Toronto. By turns funny, poignant and horrifying, Kelly writes about banal things that seem so fundamentally important as a kid, from schoolyard fights to developing musical tastes, delving into Star Wars mythology, Dungeons and Dragons, goth fashion and, yes, sports.
But these stories are set with an alcoholic, mentally ill father, serious childhood illness and friends hell-bent on self-destruction.
Boy Wonders is about the joy of discovering things completely new, but also about stumbling blithely from one life event to another. There's an interesting chapter on the Challenger space shuttle accident, and how memory can be faulty, which is fascinating in a world where people seem to remember things 'clear as day.'
The book moves to the significance of Umberto Eco, George Orwell and finishes with the author in his mid-20s, and an event that helps frame his perspective on life. It's a clear-eyed, seemingly effortless book that resonates for me, who grew up in similar circumstances (minus the mentally ill father). Recommended as a reminder of how everything is new for kids, in some ways so simple and in other ways such a struggle, even though we may not have realized it at the time.
But these stories are set with an alcoholic, mentally ill father, serious childhood illness and friends hell-bent on self-destruction.
Boy Wonders is about the joy of discovering things completely new, but also about stumbling blithely from one life event to another. There's an interesting chapter on the Challenger space shuttle accident, and how memory can be faulty, which is fascinating in a world where people seem to remember things 'clear as day.'
The book moves to the significance of Umberto Eco, George Orwell and finishes with the author in his mid-20s, and an event that helps frame his perspective on life. It's a clear-eyed, seemingly effortless book that resonates for me, who grew up in similar circumstances (minus the mentally ill father). Recommended as a reminder of how everything is new for kids, in some ways so simple and in other ways such a struggle, even though we may not have realized it at the time.
July 2, 2023
Cathal Kelly is a columnist for The Globe and Mail and I enjoy his take on the world of sport. Imagine my surprise when I learned that he was a novelist as well and the winner of the Stephen Leacock Award. Am I so out of touch with the literature of Canada?
In any case there was another surprise awaiting me. As I read ‘Boy Wonders: A Memoir’ I learned that he grew up in the same neighbourhood I did. Hung around the same TTC stations, movie theatres etc. Well, enough of my memories.
Kelly writes with a clear grasp of his audience, a delightful sense of wordplay and a touch light-hearted enough to engage the audience as he takes us into some of the darker places of his rather dark adolescence.
I recently read Colson Whitehead’s Sag Harbour. Another great saga of one’s youth.
I recommend this memoir for all Torontonians, readers of the Globe and Mail, or anyone wanting to relive the past.
The past is never far away.
In any case there was another surprise awaiting me. As I read ‘Boy Wonders: A Memoir’ I learned that he grew up in the same neighbourhood I did. Hung around the same TTC stations, movie theatres etc. Well, enough of my memories.
Kelly writes with a clear grasp of his audience, a delightful sense of wordplay and a touch light-hearted enough to engage the audience as he takes us into some of the darker places of his rather dark adolescence.
I recently read Colson Whitehead’s Sag Harbour. Another great saga of one’s youth.
I recommend this memoir for all Torontonians, readers of the Globe and Mail, or anyone wanting to relive the past.
The past is never far away.
March 4, 2022
I really liked some parts and some parts were boring or like obnoxious. Especially him and his tantrums when sports wouldn’t go his way like god grow up. I loved the chapter about fights though
He was also very entitled imo. His white ass running around downtown Toronto with his other white friends and getting away with shit other people would never get away with. Like he did so much shit that he got away with only because he was white. All the fights, the stealing hood ornaments, stealing money from his job, having alcohol in his bag when he was 15 and the cop just laughing it off like ??? Annoyed me like at least acknowledge your privileged like bare minimum. And his excuse would probably be like “it was the 80s! Or “I didn’t have a relationship with my dad”. Sucks to suck but a lot of ppl don’t. Cry me a fucking river.
A flat 3/5
March 3,2022
He was also very entitled imo. His white ass running around downtown Toronto with his other white friends and getting away with shit other people would never get away with. Like he did so much shit that he got away with only because he was white. All the fights, the stealing hood ornaments, stealing money from his job, having alcohol in his bag when he was 15 and the cop just laughing it off like ??? Annoyed me like at least acknowledge your privileged like bare minimum. And his excuse would probably be like “it was the 80s! Or “I didn’t have a relationship with my dad”. Sucks to suck but a lot of ppl don’t. Cry me a fucking river.
A flat 3/5
March 3,2022
July 12, 2019
I cant recall a recent read with so many laugh out loud sentences, composed with such care and erudition. Kelly is a very talented writer, with an eagle eye for observing the humorous angles of life at every turn. It made me think of when I read extensively the works of Alexander Solzhenitsyn - who was challenged to ever observe humor in what were admittedly grim experiences - and then reading ‘Within the whirlwind’ by Eugenia Ginsberg. Ginsberg had endured much the same experience of being unjustly imprisoned in the Gulag but had an uncanny eye to see and express the humor that is always lurking in every human encounter no matter how bleak it looks at the time. There really is a lot of wisdom for daily living in the pages of Boy Wonders!
January 31, 2021
Twenty plus linked essays about growing up in a tough area of west end Toronto in the 1980s. The title is remarkably prescient because it's really about Cathal wondering about life and what it all means, and where he's going to go. He grows up to be Cathal Kelly, lead sportswriter at the Globe and Mail, both well-liked and well respected in his field. But as a boy, Cathal inhaled books and all that reading has made him a good writer with an appealing buoyancy. Boy Wonders deservedly won the Stephen Leacock Medal for Humor, as some of the chapters are achingly funny as Cathal recalls his many misdeamours and missteps - the follies of youth. His mother was and is a remarkable force in his life and she deserved more illumination than was forthcoming. Talk about tough love!
February 17, 2025
If you were a boy growing up in 1970s Ontario you will probably love this book. Cathal Kelly describes his youth in Toronto in hilarious yet heartfelt fashion. My own youth was spent just across Lake Ontario from the big city but it’s fascinating to read Boy Wonders and realize that many of the stupid things my friends and I did were being done by others in Toronto and very likely elsewhere. Kelly’s youth was not full of treacly, feel-good experiences nor silver-spoon-like and he was not a hardened juvenile delinquent. His formative years sat somewhere in the middle, like mine, and like that of many others, and that makes Boy Wonders a universal experience.
May 19, 2019
Loved the wide-ranging nature of Cathal's memoir and memories which, at times, seemed like a survival guide for an independent soul that craved community and a sense of belonging.
Candid, wry, meditative, and just plain funny - and sometimes all in the same sentence - thought Cathal's retelling of his adventures to date was definitely the worth the read.
I wished for more when I finished the book, which I always think is the sign of a very fine book.
Thanks, Cathal, for sharing pieces of your world.
Candid, wry, meditative, and just plain funny - and sometimes all in the same sentence - thought Cathal's retelling of his adventures to date was definitely the worth the read.
I wished for more when I finished the book, which I always think is the sign of a very fine book.
Thanks, Cathal, for sharing pieces of your world.
July 5, 2021
I just had to read this book as I'm such of fan of Cathal's column in the Globe and Mail. The writing is excellent, however, some of his stories are somewhat strange. But then, that must have been his life...so there you have it. The only thing I thought truly odd is he decided to publish some strange lists in the back half of the book. I could not understand why he put them there, unless he was running out of things to say. Overall an enjoyalbe read.
April 16, 2022
The first half of this memoir is about a time period and impressions I could easily sympathize with...as well all know, the late 70s and early 80s were the best time to grow up ever. The second half of the memoir becomes more a gentle contemplation (even exorcism) of past events that presaged the advent of finally growing up. It's not a set of experiences I share, but the sharp, witty, laid back writing style sells it as universal.
June 26, 2019
Can’t wait for the next era. Childhood, adolescence and early adulthood in urban Ontario is well covered in this series of exposés of Kelly’s early life.
They show us how we interpret and are shaped by our experiences in the period of our life. Cathal portrays the humour and randomness of these situations in his inimitable to the point witty style. Completely deserving of the Leacock award.
They show us how we interpret and are shaped by our experiences in the period of our life. Cathal portrays the humour and randomness of these situations in his inimitable to the point witty style. Completely deserving of the Leacock award.
July 1, 2019
I really liked this book. It’s not written like a typical memoir; instead, Kelly takes certain memories or events and organizes them into the themes that define a childhood and adolescence. Kelly’s writing style is simple, elegant, and very entertaining. If you grew up from the late seventies to mid nineties, this is a must read; I’m a boomer, and thoroughly enjoyed it.
July 2, 2019
Who are these starred ratings for? If they’re for 46 year-old men, who grew up in Ontario in the 80s, 90s, and, well, ad nauseam, then this book is a 5/5.
Allusions? Got almost all of them.
Experiences? Had those too.
Conclusions? Arrived at most, and may get to the others.
My best compliment is this: if I didn’t see myself in these vignettes, I saw someone I knew.
A pleasure to read.
Allusions? Got almost all of them.
Experiences? Had those too.
Conclusions? Arrived at most, and may get to the others.
My best compliment is this: if I didn’t see myself in these vignettes, I saw someone I knew.
A pleasure to read.
January 30, 2022
Normally, memoirs don’t really interest me. They’re a little too “monologue”-y for me. However, Kelly definitely has the gift of the Irish gab and way of making the everyday by turns, amusing, laugh out loud funny and unvarnished matter of fact. He connects the dots in insightful ways.
Wonderfully written.
Wonderfully written.
October 8, 2024
I pine for an era when you didn’t grow up with a phone in your hand. That you weren’t connected. Cathal Kelly beautifully captures growing up in Toronto in the late 80s/early 90s with ubiquitous childhood movements spent wandering the neighbourhood, causing/looking for trouble, getting in fights, fighting social norms, finding oneself.
February 8, 2019
Believing it's important to support Canadian readers, I read this memoir with interest about another person who experienced growing up in the 1970's and 80's. Unfortunately by the end of the book I found myself skipping over sections about religion and other topics in order to finish.
April 19, 2019
Interesting reflection on his life and how things came about. His life was important, his life experiences were personal and his perspectives were unique. I appreciate that he shared them with us. However I didn't really enjoy reading about them.
February 28, 2019
didn't want this book to end; lots of things put me back to the Peterborough of my youth and his growing up in Bloor West Village, where I now live, made it all the more interesting
March 30, 2019
3.5 stars - extremely well written, insightful and honest. Really enjoyed it.
May 20, 2019
A great read by a great writer. Never too young to write your autobiography!
June 13, 2020
Clever, vulnerable, candid, hilarious in spots, thought provoking in others.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 43 reviews