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Vivid childhood memories are infused with strong values and hardscrabble survival in this touching memoir. Mortenson grew up in rural Wisconsin, the grandson of Austrian-Hungarian immigrants. The family history begins with the author's much-loved Grandpa Palesch seasick on a ship headed to America in the early 1900s. After three years of hard work, he sent for his wife and daughter. The author was born in Wausau, Wisconsin, and resided much of his youth with both sets of grandparents. When his grandfather purchased a radio, the little boy was amazed and wanted to know how it worked. This curiosity would later spur him to a career in electronics. For much of his childhood, the families got by without electricity or running water. Farming chores were required from 6 am until school time and up to 10:30 at night after school.
Mortenson's assorted recollections include the formality of the family's invariable, pre-set seating arrangement at suppertime and the warm wool socks and gloves knitted for him every year by Grandma Mortenson. His first swimming experience was in a watering trough when he and his cousin Jeanne stripped naked and jumped in, unaware that drivers along the road could see them. The young boy was ever curious and not afraid to try things, like "fishing" for chickens in the barn with nightcrawlers he'd found in their poop pile or walking alone to his uncle's house in deep snow without actually knowing the way. He learned to catch rabbits in a wooden trap and fortunately survived an infected dog bite. Once, invited by an uncle to go deer hunting, he shot and killed a huge buck on his own after hours of careful tracking. He began to realize he didn't want to become what his father self-deprecatingly called "a stupid farmer like me," so after high school, he joined the U.S. Army, was trained in electronics, and gained skills that guided his professional life after that.
Mortenson's reminiscences are offered in an engaging, straightforward way, with a pleasant infusion of humor and occasional sanguine observations. Religion played a small role in his upbringing since his father only agreed to marry his mother when she relinquished her strict Catholicism. Still, the underlying principles of getting ahead in life through hard work, moral action, and constant improvement are continually stressed. The narrative, a series of short, historically relevant vignettes, is accompanied by black and white photos of various family members and includes a picture drawn by his father. The artistic talent of the latter was evident and sought among his neighbors. Deprivations of World War II are highlighted when the local children were asked to collect milkweed to be used in manufacturing parachutes for the troops. The ancient skill of dousing or water witching is described, along with the use of kerosene lamps and candles for light in the family's new home. Mortenson's collection will attract those who lived through the same or similar conditions and has the power to enchant those wanting to know more about American immigrant grit and gumption.
RECOMMENDED by the US Review