Home Fires

An Intimate Portrait of One Middle-Class Family in Postwar America

De: Donald Katz, Jonathan Alter - introduction, Ricky Ian Gordon - afterword

Narrado por: Joe Barrett, Jonathan Alter - introduction, Ricky Ian Gordon - afterword

Home Fires is the powerful saga of the Gordon family--real people, names unchanged. Spanning nearly five decades, from the end of World War II to the early 1990s, their story has the scope, depth, wealth of incident, and emotional intensity of a great novel, and an abundance of humor, scandal, warmth, and trauma--the recognizable components of family life. This is also a masterful chronicle of the turbulent postwar era, illuminating the interplay between private life and profound cultural changes.

Donald Katz begins his account in 1945, when Sam Gordon comes home from the war to his young wife, Eve, and their two-year-old, Susan, eager to move his family into the growing middle class. After a few years in the Bronx, Sam and Eve move to a new Long Island subdivision and have two more children. As the '50s yield to the '60s, the younger Gordons fly out into the culture like shrapnel from an artillery shell, each tracing a unique trajectory: Susan, early into rock 'n' roll and civil rights, Vassar girl, feminist, author of "The Politics of Orgasm", and recovering drug addict; Lorraine, teenage beatnik and leftie, onetime member of a women's rock band, longtime follower of an Indian religious teacher; Sheila, the "good" daughter who married then remarried, with a big suburban house, two kids, and a therapist; and Ricky, the youngest, witness to the family traumas and cause of a few himself, openly gay, eclectically New Age, and a successful songwriter and composer. And all Sam and Eve ever wanted--like millions of others who had experienced the Depression and the war--was a "normal family".

Katz tells the Gordons' story--from the unraveling of Sam and Eve's American dream to the slow, hopeful reknitting of the family--marshaling a vivid cast of supporting characters. Deftly juxtaposing day-to-day family life with landmark public events, Katz creates a rich and revealing portrait of the second half of the 20th century in America.

©1992 Donald Katz (P)2014 Donald Katz

EVE. At the end of the day the story was hers

What an amazing natural family and they were able to stay together and love each other and experience the pits of life and raise above it. Now I want to read the books written by Susan and Lorraine. Ricky is 1 brave man with the love and support and understanding of this amazing family gave full expression of himself. Congratulations to all, you had the inherent strength regardless of external influences to overcome.

Great Insights

I now have a better idea of what motivated my older relatives to make the decisions they made in their lives

Incredible Nostalgia

If you could sum up Home Fires in three words, what would they be?

Family's know pain.

What was one of the most memorable moments of Home Fires?

Sam coming to terms with his children.

What does the narrators bring to the story that you wouldn’t experience if you just read the book?

Joe Barrett does a great job with what you think the voices would sound like. Brings good emotion to the story.

Did you have an extreme reaction to this book? Did it make you laugh or cry?

More laughs than crys.

Any additional comments?

If you grew up in this era, and had parents from the depression, with siblings spread apart in age like I did. This book will bring so many memories & emotions back to you. There are lessons for everyone in the book though. Very entertaining!

Perfect for audio --

If you could sum up Home Fires in three words, what would they be?

Like being there

What did you like best about this story?

The people, especially Mr.and Mrs. Gordon and the depiction of the 60s-70s.

What does the narrators bring to the story that you wouldn’t experience if you just read the book?

The narrator takes a few risks with the voices / accents. I think they work. Overall, he does a wonderful job. I'll look for for his other titles.

Did you have an extreme reaction to this book? Did it make you laugh or cry?

How do you feel after an O'Neill play or a Roth novel?

sad but true

this is such a wonderful life story of a normal family. I truly enjoyed it.