Publisher's Synopsis
This is a true story of intense love matched by intense hatred and fear, of growing up Irish Catholic in a family of eight children in the era of the Kennedys, where families of this magnitude were looked upon as a grand achievement, a joyous celebration of fertility, fellowship and life. It was also an era where some fathers maintained order with a slap in the face or the slash of the belt.
Journey back in time with the ten O'Herns as they make their frightening but darkly hilarious annual "hell on wheels" holiday trek from Albany, New York to Falmouth, Mass on Cape Cod. From his father driving down the Mass Pike insanely swinging a belt over the front seat at his terrified brood huddled in the back of the blue Ford Town and Country station wagon-the snapping leather underscored by Lawrence Welk's polka music blaring out of the AM radio and the whimpering of the family German Shepherd cringing at their feet-to Mom, working her way through a pack of cigarettes and a third glass of sherry, laughing and crying about her life as a scullery maid, a far cry from the Cinderella life she envisioned when she hitched herself to a surgeon. It's the era of the Kennedys, where sprawling families were looked upon as a grand achievement, a joyous celebration of fertility, fellowship and life. It was also an era where father's like John's, a thoracic surgeon and respected member of the community, ruled with total impunity, maintaining control with a vicious crack of the belt or a slap in the face, and always followed up with his most potent weapon, a humiliating swipe of savage sarcasm. The darkest memories of an anguished baby boomer childhood are woven in contrast to the magical healing experience of a stay-at-home dad who finds during a year of therapy combined with the companionship of two loving children and a the support of a bedrock-stable wife, an escape route from the inherited rage of his father as well as the generational cycle of learned violence, bigotry, fear and intimidation. Given this second chance to re-learn life's most profound lessons John creates a life for his children based on love, nurturing, empathy, honesty and most of all, laughter. It's a roller coaster ride that starts in hell and ends in...well, if not heaven, somewhere close. "Many of John's stories performed at Write Yourself Free Storytelling series were funny-scary-true tales of growing up in a huge family. Listening to John's wonderful coming-of-age stories---sometimes bawdy, often tragic, but always hilarious---it was clear that his wit and charm were survival skills, and that despite a bizarre, sometimes terrifying upbringing, finding the humor was how John created his own personal power and how he---and we---could humanize and understand life's difficulties." -Patrick McCord, PhD, The Editing Company/Write Yourself Free
