Crying at Movies:
A Novel
John Manderino

Category: Memoir/Film
Format: Paperback, 200pp, 5 x 8
ISBN: 978-0-89733-580-5
Price: $15.95

About the Book

“A clever twist on the traditional memoir...has quite a few things to say about the way our lives...mirror the movies.”—Booklist

“The 59-year-old writer's gently humorous recollections...illustrate that life isn't always like the movies, but movies are a big part of many people's lives.”—Chicago Sun-Times

When Hitchcock’s The Birds, began showing in the summer of 1963 at the Dolton Theater, the starlings of Riverside, Illinois launched their attacks. They were “black, freckled, oily-looking things” with “tiny black buttons for eyes.” They carried off Skippy Whalen’s baseball cap, pooped on Father Rowley’s finger, and attacked a feisty little dog named Tuffy who fought them off. “I blamed Alfred Hitchcock” says the author, a Catholic grammar school student at the time.

In this comic, witty memoir, John Manderino shows us how the pivotal points of his life have been enmeshed with movie moments. Crying at Movies presents thirty-eight succinct chapters, each bearing the title of a film.

Brief Encounter, the last chapter, finds our movie-seeking Everyman hiding in his girlfriend’s bathroom so she won’t see him crying over the final scene.

Crying at Movies is at once a love-letter to an art form and a humorous appreciation of the distinctions between movie scenes and life’s realities.

About the Author

John Manderino lives with his wife, Marie, in Maine where he teaches writing at the University of Southern Maine. He is currently at work on a novel titled Toby Fletcher and the Children of Fatima.