JOURNEY OF THE HEART: A Loving Family Memoir

A curio cabinet of a book, chronicling the family history of the author, a Depression child raised in Toledo, Ohio. Reaching back through the years, Eyster gives us a nostalgic rendition of family life in the days when fear of poverty was an ingredient common to almost all, when the junkman, the milkman, and the iceman cometh--and the postman not only rang twice, but delivered, too. Eyster, unfortunately, can be both a maker of gems and costume jewelry. On one page she can come out with a gem as resounding as ""the Victorian Age, that ice age of human emotions."" Yet, shortly thereafter, in true Victorian iciness, she can refer to the onset of her menstruation as ""the unexpected arrival of enlightenment, my uninvited and intimate guest for the next 40 years."" Her Majesty wouldn't have described it any differently. Later, she writes, ""Today, the filmy gown has been replaced with total frontal and rearal and upside-downal nudity. And the movies, too. Sigh."" Quaint Americana.