The Jennifer Letters

Infinity Publishing, 2006
Barnes & Noble
Amazon

In case you grew up on the east side of Indianapolis in the 50s-70s and had a notion to write a memoir, you might want to hold off. It could be that Greg Bierck’s The Jennifer Letters has you covered. Written as a series of letters to his 12-year old daughter Jennifer, the book takes us on an intimate journey into the author’s earliest memories and carries them through into adulthood. Along the way he explores cultural and historic trends of the time period, both local and national. It’s a narrative journey in which life’s lessons are gently implied rather than laid down with a heavy tone. As such, it’s kind of the instruction manual to life that we all wish we had received from our parents, and the book that most parents would like to give to their children.

Bierck states up front that he remembers many of his childhood events as if they “happened one hour ago,” and the book seems to bear him out. For example at his parents’ duplex nestled in the neighborhood between Pleasant Run golf course and East Washington Street, he recalls uncanny details about the tires on his tricycle, or how his skate key was liable to fly up and hit him in the face as it dangled around his neck. Most people younger than 50 probably won’t remember the clamp-on metal skates that were common back then. It’s details like these that make the book worthwhile and the book is full of them.