My Cleveland Story

By Greg Cielec

Book Overview

Three friends come of age in the Seventies and Eighties, from high school until they start pushing thirty. Set in and around Cleveland, it has been called "The Great American Novel, the Ohio Version,"... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0966572408
• ISBN13: 9780966572407
• Release Date: November 1998
• Publisher: Pink Flamingo Pr
• Length: 278 Pages
• Weight: 1.14 lbs.
• Dimensions: 9.0" x 1.3" x 6.0"

Customer Reviews

A Cleveland Classic

"My Cleveland Story" is a great book! A fantastic story that follows two best friends, set in Cleveland in "the good ol' days" as well as the two friends' respective college campuses. Paints a vivid picture of growing up: high school football, first loves, graduation, college, returning home. As the author writes, "it was the golden age, before HIV but after crabs". Definitely pick this one up if you get the chance!

A Cleveland Remembrance

Living in the Cleveland area of the 60's-80's, we all remember the Kardiac Kids, Springsteen, Michael Stanley, and our poor Indians who lost game after game. As the Streetsboro High Librarian, I have worked with Greg for several years and I can assure you that he has lived and felt every word of his novel. You too will feel all the ups and downs of his coming of age with his friends Mate and Beth- and you will shed a few tears. Every person with a Cleveland connection should buy this book and relive those "wonderful times"

Great book, great memories

Greg Cielec's My Cleveland Story was wonderful. He captured a piece of Cleveland that will make readers feel like they are there and experiencing those things too! Although I am now living away from Cleveland, I was swept up in the emotion and memories of the past and home when reading his book. Any Clevelander will appreciate the aura the book provides of home. Any out of towner will love learning about Cleveland through Greg's eyes. He depicts the sights, sounds and feel of Cleveland through his story. If anyone wants to read a superb novel about growing up and overcoming the adversities of what life brings, Greg's novel is your best choice to do so. If you want to read a romantic, suspenseful and memorable novel - pick his story up today!!

Terrific coming-of-age tale set in 1970's-80's Cleveland

True to the title, "My Cleveland Story" follows the author and his colorful cast of pals as they come of age in Cleveland circa 1970-85, at a time when the Kardiac Kids packed the Dawg Pound and the Indians counted their losses. One need not be an alumnus of Coach Ceilec's Streetsboro High to appreciate his universal themes of lost love, teen angst, and twenty-comething uncertainty. Local readers will smile at the familiar sights and sounds: the old Agora, Bruce Springsteen live in concert, the Tam, the Flats, Michael Stanley, Municipal Stadium (Red Right 88), Friday night football, cheap beer and a whole lotta Led Zeppelin. But Ceilec does more than take a trip down memory lane. His novel packs some unexpected twists, real life drama and tragedy to offset the basketball victories and notches on dorm bedposts. It's visceral prose without the fuss. "My Cleveland Story" is the modern Midwesterner's "Catcher in the Rye," "Outsiders" and "Huck Finn" wrapped in one juicy enchilada, and isn't to be missed. Excited about the "new" Browns? Join Ceilec as he relives the glory days. Can't get into Jacob's Field? Take any seat you like at the old stadium with Greg and Mate as they watch the Tribe take another licking. Tired of that alternative-metal-rap garbage on the airwaves? Crank up some Southside Johnny on old WMMS and stop by Mate's house for brats and beer after work. Grapple with the awkwardness of your first sexual experience once again and revisit your reckless teenage years, guilt-free, in these captivating pages. You'll identify with these people because you and your friends once did the very same things. If you're a Cleveland native, this book is as much your story as it is Ceilec's. Great stuff (I'm waiting for a sequel).

It'll Bring You Back Home Again!

Collectively, I've yet to find a group of individuals who take more pride in their hometown than us Clevelanders. I ordered this book based upon a recommendation and I couldn't have had a better time reliving many of my own Cleveland memories. If you know anything about Cleveland, there is a distinct division between the East and West sides. Being an East sider (Shaker Heights), I still could relate to and enjoy all of Greg's stories. Over the course of this great book, he touched upon every emotion one could imagine.I had to move out of town 3 years ago due to a job opportunity and there hasn't been a day since that I haven't thought about the Browns, the Indians, the Flats and 30 years of great memories. It only took me a couple of evenings to finish the novel. Thanks Greg for bringing me back home. I can't wait to get back to Jacobs Field and the new Cleveland Municipal Stadium real soon.