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ralphz's review
3.0
This felt like a good start that did not end well.
In the prologue, the author said he intended to write just about the history and development of diners, but was encouraged to add bowling alleys and trailer parks, too. What emerged is a mixed story of postwar culture that doesn't hold together as it should.
Ultimately, the stories of diners and bowling alleys are of upward mobility and blue-collar distractions becoming white-collar entertainments.
But the trailer park story doesn't work that way, staying as it does largely in the lower-class world. As much as the author tries to tie it all together, it doesn't quite work.
And although the author addresses class and race in each section, the book finishes with a large section that, I guess, was supposed to be a history of postwar racism. It felt like it also was suggested by the publisher, and also felt like it was inserted from another book.
Again, a nice and interesting start, a mixed ending.
In the prologue, the author said he intended to write just about the history and development of diners, but was encouraged to add bowling alleys and trailer parks, too. What emerged is a mixed story of postwar culture that doesn't hold together as it should.
Ultimately, the stories of diners and bowling alleys are of upward mobility and blue-collar distractions becoming white-collar entertainments.
But the trailer park story doesn't work that way, staying as it does largely in the lower-class world. As much as the author tries to tie it all together, it doesn't quite work.
And although the author addresses class and race in each section, the book finishes with a large section that, I guess, was supposed to be a history of postwar racism. It felt like it also was suggested by the publisher, and also felt like it was inserted from another book.
Again, a nice and interesting start, a mixed ending.
pussreboots's review
3.0
http://www.pussreboots.pair.com/blog/2015/comments_03/diners_bowling_alleys_and_trailer_parks.html