Cape Cod Summers

By Paul Vaughn

Cape Cod Summers and more as envisioned through the perceptive eyes and humorous "wild imagination" of a young boy who grew up and out of his New England childhood short pants as Paul Fithian, and... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1553956478
• ISBN13: 9781553956471
• Release Date: July 2006
• Publisher: Trafford Publishing
• Length: 202 Pages
• Weight: 0.50 lbs.
• Dimensions: 8.5" x 0.5" x 5.5"

Customer Reviews

An entertaining reminiscence told in two voices

Paul Vaughn grew up as Paul Fithian in the Boston area. He was one of those lucky kids who spent a month on Cape Cod each summer of his childhood. He remembers those days -- mostly in the 1940s -- in 41 vignettes written from his point of view back then. Each short chapter ends with observations and explanations from Paul today. Paul the Younger is obsessed with all the things that typically make up a child's world: Eating ice cream, candy, and clam chowdah (usually in that order). Encountering bees, blowfish, bluefish, blue crabs, seaworms, ticks, lightning bugs, Northern Lights. Playing family card games, rowing a little red boat, caddying at a local golf course, mistrusting alien New Yorkers, and above all, fantasizing about Doris Day. He tries to survive each day as the youngest of three brothers. He wonders about girls, he ponders his future, he wishes he could communicate better with his retarded Uncle Clyde, and he finds amazement in how little the adults around him truly know him. Paul the Older comments on each story from his perspective 50 years later. He's older and wiser, is a father himself and now lives in California. The stories are his, of course, and it's as if he's sharing them with the reader in the comfort of his own living room. The result is an easy read that at times is chuckle-out-loud funny. A nice diversion for anyone with similar Cape childhood memories, or anyone who wants to remember what it's like to see the universe through the eyes of a child.

The pull of childhood

I felt the excitement of approaching the Cape Cod canal just as I did as a child when I began reading this book. The stories so totally capture the thoughts and feelings that have lain dormant in my heart for some 50 odd years and they all came flooding back. It isn't just the marvelously honest way the episodes are related but the ties into the history of that time that makes this such a great read. This is not only a must for the older folks on your Christmas list, but a refreshing change for any age and most especially for anyone that has ever visited the Cape. What takes this book out of the ordinary Cape memoir is the thhoughtful reflection of those times seen through the authors eyes 50 years later. And last but not least are the delightful line drawings that illustrate with beautiful simplicity the soul of the book. Don't miss this one.

Cape Cod Summers

This was fun reading. I found myself looking forward to the time in the evening when I could read another chapter. His humorous description of a childhood spent on the Cape brought back many of my own summer memories of long ago. Loved his honesty and uncomplicated,enjoyable stories of just being a kid spending his summers with his family. He has great recall and couldn't help but wish this experience was available to more kids.