The Sparkling-Eyed Boy : A Memoir of Love, Grown Up

A creative memoir reflecting on a long-ago summer love and the choices we make—“built on dreams and memories of what never happened, but could have” (USA Today). Exploring the fault lines of adult nostalgia and desire, this work of creative nonfiction—a Bakeless Prize winner—re-creates the achingly intense adolescent summer days that Amy Benson and the sparkling-eyed boy spent together on the shores of the remote St. Mary's River of Michigan's Upper Peninsula. For her, summers meant returning from her home in Detroit to a three-month idyll on much-loved family land, owned for generations, and to a heady culture of local boys. For him, this land is the place he was born, where he'll later find work, marry, and stay. In the span of a lifetime their encounters were relatively brief, but loaded with meaning. Here, her heart-stoppingly erotic—yet wholly imagined—scenes, her imaginings of different outcomes, and her searching riffs on love as possession, love as pain, read like a friend's deepest secrets, shared. “Full of color and light and life. This is truth of the most profound sort; truth revealed in the artful and lyrical sensibility of Benson's words and memory... Benson shows us here what the memoir can and should do—destroy and resurrect itself over and over.” —Brad Land, author of Goat “The great pleasure and triumph of this memoir is Amy Benson's ability to make the familiar new again as she explores the country of first love. Over and over I found myself surprised by the unexpected twists and turns, peaks and abysses, of her journey. And also by her lovely, fiercely intelligent prose.” —Margot Livesey, author of The Flight of Gemma Hardy “A remarkably candid disclosure of what it feels like to be young and in love for the first time. Winner of a prize for creative nonfiction from the Bread Loaf Writers'Conference, this is a provocative, intense read.” —Booklist

The Sparkling-Eyed Boy is so full of color and light and life. -- Brad Land, author of Goat

The theme of summer love, in Amy Benson's hands, grows up: The Sparkling-Eyed Boy searches out the fault lines of adult nostalgia and desire. The achingly intense adolescent summer days that Amy Benson and the sparkling-eyed boy spend together on the remote shores of the St. Mary's River of Michigan's Upper Peninsula are at the complex emotional center of The Sparkling-Eyed Boy. For her, summers meant returning from her home in Detroit to a three-month idyll on much-loved family land, owned for generations, and to a heady culture of teasing, testing local boys. For him, this land is the place he was born, where he'll later find work, marry, and stay: and she was the one he had loved.
Can you pinpoint that moment? When you made a choice before you even knew that choosing was possible, or the terrifying nature of choices? The Sparkling-Eyed Boy, with its heart-stoppingly erotic -- and yet wholly imagined -- scenes of illicit love, its searching riffs on love as possession, love as pain, reads like a friend's deepest secrets, shared.

“The Sparkling-Eyed Boy is so full of color and light and life. This is truth of the most profound sort; truth revealed in the artful and lyrical sensibility of Benson’s words and memory. She is dancing with us: not leading, but simply asking us to watch her move and take what we will. Benson shows us here what the memoir can and should do — destroy and resurrect itself over and over. Benson is doing exactly that.” — Brad Land, author of Goat

“The great pleasure and triumph of this memoir is Amy Benson’s ability to make the familiar new again as she explores the country of first love. Over and over I found myself surprised by the unexpected twists and turns, peaks and abysses, of her journey. And also by her lovely, fiercely intelligent prose.” — Margot Livesey, author of Criminals

Publishers Weekly

While the words what if may be the most potent daydream triggers known to humanity, writers usually explore the road-not-taken in the format of fiction. Benson's Bakeless Prize-winning work of creative nonfiction comprises some 32 entries relating to the sparkling-eyed boy of her teen years, her first big love. What if she'd kept coming back to Upper Michigan to see him every summer? What if they'd become a real couple? What if they'd had sex? What if they'd married? So this is a memoir, then, of what did not happen. As such, it isn't so much about this boy, but about Benson's feelings and her pleasure in writing about them. At times, it's as if Benson is reading over her own shoulder, commenting on her own musings. She writes that she considered suicide once, but then rebukes herself: This is bad ethics: I shouldn't let the people who will worry about me know this. After describing the boy's form as thrown into relief she adds, what a beautiful phrase, `thrown into relief.' She's fond of the paradoxical pronouncement: It is our own goodness that gives us the power to be terrible. Buried among these uninteresting musings are occasional moments of insight. A friend tells her, You're pining for something; you're not really pining for him. Benson admits she's right, that she's pining because it feels good to feel bad sometimes. So much better than feeling nothing. Readers may want a little more from a book, however. (June) Copyright 2004 Reed Business Information.

"The Sparkling-Eyed Boy is so full of color and light and life." -- Brad Land, author of Goat The theme of summer love, in Amy Benson's hands, grows up: The Sparkling-Eyed Boy searches out the fault lines of adult nostalgia and desire. The achingly intense adolescent summer days that Amy Benson and the sparkling-eyed boy spend together on the remote shores of the St. Mary's River of Michigan's Upper Peninsula are at the complex emotional center of The Sparkling-Eyed Boy. For her, summers meant returning from her home in Detroit to a three-month idyll on much-loved family land, owned for generations, and to a heady culture of teasing, testing local boys. For him, this land is the place he was born, where he'll later find work, marry, and stay: and she was the one he had loved. "Can you pinpoint that moment? When you made a choice before you even knew that choosing was possible, or the terrifying nature of choices?" The Sparkling-Eyed Boy, with its heart-stoppingly erotic -- and yet wholly imagined -- scenes of illicit love, its searching riffs on love as possession, love as pain, reads like a friend's deepest secrets, shared. The Sparkling-Eyed Boy is so full of color and light and life. This is truth of the most profound sort; truth revealed in the artful and lyrical sensibility of Bensons words and memory. She is dancing with us: not leading, but simply asking us to watch her move and take what we will. Benson shows us here what the memoir can and should do destroy and resurrect itself over and over. Benson is doing exactly that. Brad Land, author of Goat The great pleasure and triumph of this memoir is Amy Bensons ability to make the familiar new again as she explores the country of first love. Over and over I found myself surprised by the unexpected twists and turns, peaks and abysses, of her journey. And also by her lovely, fiercely intelligent prose. Margot Livesey, author of Criminals "The Sparking-Eyed Boy searches out the fault lines of adult nostalgia and desire. The achingly intense adolescent summer days that Benson and the sparkling-eyed boy spent together on the shores of the remote St. Mary's River in Michigan's Upper Peninsula are at the emotional center of this memoir. For her, summers meant returning from her home in Detroit to a three-month idyll on much-loved family land, owned for generations, and to a heady culture of teasing, testing local boys. For him, this land is the place where he was born, where he'll later find work, marry, and stay - and she was the one he had loved."--BOOK JACKET.