Staten Island Memoirs

By John Latka

Lost love haunts many as they age, but ; in Staten Island Memoirs, Paris. Polanski creates a ficticious love affair with a beautiful face from the past; he cannot forget; Paris has led a full life... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1418435414
• ISBN13: 9781418435417
• Release Date: April 2006
• Publisher: Authorhouse
• Length: 584 Pages
• Weight: 1.86 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.3" x 6.0" x 9.0"

Customer Reviews

a gentle romance that is an overlooked gem

An intriguing book, that is really like a puzzle box - you open the lid and there's another box. I recently finished a book where I drew heavily on childhood memories of people and places of the 1960s, and that is precisely what John Latka does here with Staten Island Memoirs. This whole premise just screams screenplay and movie. In the 1960s, a young man named Paris Polanski is in love with a beautiful, enchanting woman, Helen Jones. Paris is too shy to express what Helen makes him feel, too shy to open himself to the rejection by asking what she feels. Paris, now much older, still is haunted by this memory of Helen. It won't leave him, so instead of trying to move on, he uses the emotions that he's kept hidden, refashions these feelings in his writing. There he creates the world of What If - in this world Paris controls he was stronger and able to say all the things he wanted, and thus marries Helen, and their lives go on together. Latka conjures vivid characters, with finely detailed settings, with a strong sense of drawing on that one special memory that fashioned who we are, what we are, and lingers timeless within our memories. A thoroughly enjoyable work with haunting quality. If I were a movie producer, I would snap this up in a Staten Island minute!

A novel for the Romantic in all of us!

Staten Island Memoirs will give you many hours of reading pleasure. It is the story of a romantic obsession and how one man invents his ideal lover to compensate for the sadness of lost opportunity. It is a love story within a love story. I especially enjoyed the drama and suspense of the wartime escapades. Obviously the author is very knowledgeable about a lot of different subjects and teaches the reader just as his hero, Paris Polanski, teaches the other characters in the book.

A Looming Obsession

WOW! What a great read. Have you ever met someone that you were unable to forget? The story unfolds in Staten Island N.Y., spinning a haunting and unforgetable tale of romance and drama, exposing one man's obsession with a beautiful face from the past, that continues to haunt him. Attempting to reach resolution, he uses his imagination to create a ficticious love story. This is my kind of book. There is something in it for all readers love, adventure, romance, and intrigue. Why did this story have to end?