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Click
here
if
you're looking
for the non-Goof channel of seanenright.com.
Here's what Michael Pakenham of
said about GOOF AND OTHER STORIES,
when he recommended it as his
"Editor's Choice," June 16, 2001
| Digby Shaw's going on 14 when these perhaps only lightly fictionalized
13 little memoirs begin. As they end, he's a few months older, emerging
from the eighth grade year that is about over. What happens in between
is an enchanting, clean-cut, fresh-served personal panorama of discovery
-- of a wider world, of doubt about grown-ups' authority, of the tumults
and turmoils of oncoming adolescence. But most of all, about growing
up -- not all at once, but, rather, in an utterly convincing, osmotic
manner. Enright grew up a Marylander, and the narrative clearly came
from here, but there is a universality about the tales that may capture
the hearts of anyone who has brought up an eighth grader or has been
one. |
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Order now from
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Goof and Other Stories, by Sean Enright, is published by Creative Arts Book Company.
This site has links to purchasing a copy of Goof and Other Stories on-line or in retail stores, an excerpted chapter from Goof and Other Stories, "Miss Twinkletoes," some 1970s historical material, a schedule of readings and appearances by the author, a short biographical note and detailed contact information.
Feel free to drop a line if you're interested in staying in touch!
Goof and Other Stories back jacket copy:
Sometimes I wish that instead of being born the usual way, I had been flown through the solar system to earth and just dropped off here. It would be much simpler than having to have been nothing first. But I wasn't flown in. I was born, so I have to deal with it.
Meet Digby Shaw, on the verge of turning teenager. Right now he's still child enough to grow angry at the mere mention of the Keebler dwarves (he suspects they hoard their cookies). About to graduate from grade school, and outlawed by his family, Digby's every move at home is mysteriously known by his mother, and in the classroom he's under the sharp eye of a powerful nun, twice the size of the Lord God, with a man's name. And he has a theory his father doesn't like him one bit. Nothing is safe anymore. Digby suffers every misfortune at school: embarrassed to perform in the school play, about a saint, bullied by the local juvenile delinquent, trying to do good when his every other instinct is to be bad. He likes books, lighting fires, facts and fictions of all shapes and sizes, and he likes tormenting his brother Emmet. But now the younger boy reminds him of himself. And all of a sudden, to his bewilderment, Digby also seems to like girls. One girl in particular, his oldest friend's sister. And still, her brother, his supposed friend, locks him in a box in the woods, just for fun. Only memory and love save Digby, and then only briefly. He would much rather just be cool.
You see, I'm a goof. I'm klutzy with stuff that's heavy or fragile. I act like a guy when I'm with guys and like a girl when I'm with girls. I sweat a lot over nothing. Even my name is goofy. Digby Shaw. Shaw's not so bad, but nobody ever even gets that far. "Digby? Is that a word? Is that really your name?" No, a-hole. I made it up so no one would ever know who I was.
This is a funny book about being sad and about being in the dark. It's also about what it's like to grow up in a funny family. Digby is getting ready to walk out into a world that's looking larger and fiercer to him every passing day. But he can't help but feel a little fiercer himself as he goes along. And he's certainly getting larger.
You know the Cheshire Cat? I'm the Cheshire Cat with love handles.
Recommend Goof and Other Stories!
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