Coming of Age in America - by Mary Frosch (Paperback)

Book Synopsis

By turns touching and hilarious, Coming of Age in America gathers together writers from fifteen different ethnic groups who, through their fiction, explore the terrain we all traverse as we come of age, no matter our race, ethnicity, gender, or class.

With over twenty short stories and fiction excerpts by noted authors such as Julia Alvarez and Frank Chin, Dorothy Allison and Adam Schwartz, Reginald McNight and Tobias Wolff, Coming of Age in America shows that our common experiences are more binding than our differences are divisive. Since its initial publication in 1994, Coming of Age in America has evolved from a groundbreaking collection of underrepresented voices into a timeless album of unforgettable literature. A wonderfully readable collection, this is a marvelous resource for those looking for stories that illustrate the convergence of cultural experience and literature.

From the Back Cover

By turns touching and hilarious, Coming of Age in America gathers together writers from fifteen different ethnic groups who, through their fiction, explore the terrain we all traversed as we came of age, no matter our race, ethnicity, gender, or class. Whether we read to remember or to commiserate, here we find it all - classroom bullies and sibling rivalries, first loves and first losses, first victories and first defeats. Frank Chin and Gish Jen vividly recall the excitement of young romance, Adam Schwartz and Dorothy Allison remind us of how trying families can be, and Wanda Coleman and Nicholasa Mohr write about those piercing moments when we realize that our religion, skin color, or ethnicity differentiate us from our best friends. With over twenty short stories and fiction excerpts, Coming of Age in America shows that our common experiences are more binding than our differences are divisive. A wonderfully readable and groundbreaking collection, this is a marvelous resource for those people looking for alternatives to The Catcher in the Rye and A Separate Peace.

Review Quotes

"This collection is proof that our collective reality is expressed through many fugues, intonations, and accents. It is in the varied voices, the unique stories, and the universal life-sphere of growing up that we find what truly unites us."
-Luis Rodriguez, author of Always Running: La Vida Loca, Gang Days in L.A.

About the Author

Mary Frosch is also the editor of Coming of Age Around the World and Coming of Age in the 21st Century (The New Press). As a teacher at The Spence School she designed a world literature curriculum and helped implement the multicultural literature program. She divides her time between New York City and Santa Monica, California.