Review (by a man!): “Vivid coming-of-age tale”
“Finally!” writes Rob in a review on Amazon, “A story about teenagers by an adult who actually writes the way teenagers talk!
“Lunch in Brooklyn takes place in New York City in the late 1970s, but it could’ve been written about any era in any locale. Adolescent angst never changes throughout the years; the desires, humiliations and fumbling explorations (drugs, sexuality) remain constant, as do teachers who exclaim, ‘People, settle down,’ and parents who hover over every relationship detail.
“Rebecca Moore has a keen ear for dialog and expertly crafts a young girl’s coming-of-age in a specific time and place. The good news is that Lunch in Brooklyn doesn’t require you be female, or from Brooklyn, to enjoy it.”
Thanks, Rob!
Meet Vic Giovanni
Well, actually, meet Robert Weinberger. If you like funny, well-written memoirs, especially those set in the 1970s, in Brooklyn, or on Long Island, read this. Vic Giovanni was Robert’s piano teacher, but maybe you took driver’s ed with this guy. Or maybe you knew Lorna, a missed opportunity.
Here’s how this memoir begins:
Vic Giovanni is my new piano teacher.
He is thirty-five, wears Hai Karate aftershave, drives a maroon 1970 El Dorado, and sits too close to me on the piano bench.
For the first fifteen minutes of every piano lesson, Vic Giovanni details his sexual exploits, claiming numerous rendezvous with many Hollywood actresses. He doesn’t use words like hump or screw or other words I know, but boink, buff, bang (his favorite), ball, boff, bleep, and just about anything beginning with the letter b. Every actress he has either boinked or banged.
Vic Giovanni is determined to make me popular with the opposite sex, the chicks. “And chicks dig a guy who can bang those piano keys,” he explains with a wink.
Read the rest at Hippocampus Magazine: http://www.hippocampusmagazine.com/2012/12/sex-drugs-and-vic-giovanni-by-robert-weinberger/
Robert says this of himself: He was raised across the street from the Cyclone roller coaster ride at the world-renowned Coney Island amusement park in Brooklyn, New York. He legally immigrated to the Los Angeles area in his early twenties. His memoirs, “My Letter,” “The Year of Living Nervously,” and “Look Homeward, Brooklyn” have been published in Memoir Journal and Mr. Beller’s Neighborhood. In a previous life, Robert toiled as a publicist for Universal Pictures, working with some of the most recognizable names in the entertainment industry — none of whom will return his phone calls.
A bite of Lunch: underground
“He opens his mouth to say something but the train is picking up speed as we go under the river. We glance at each other without speaking. The empty cars of the CC train rattle through the tunnel. They are gray with yellow walls, dim light, dirty linoleum and slow electric fans. They are like someone’s kitchen in a long dream. When the train pulls into Broadway-Nassau Street, the car fills with miserable people in steaming trench coats. Harry pushes out against the tide of them to transfer to the Lexington Avenue IRT.”
Buy yourself Lunch on Amazon.com
Be the first person to buy Lunch from Amazon.co.uk
I took this picture of an old CC train at the Transit Museum. Either the colors of the carriage walls had changed by the late 70s or I misremembered them by the time this scene was written. Also, the museum has used brighter lighting. The way I remember it, there was always at least one light flickering and it was darker. Underground was like being underwater. Note the porthole window in the door.
Life in other decades
You can read other stuff I have written on other subjects, in other locations, at my other blog, What would the Wertis Say? One is not 14 forever.
No such thing as a free Lunch?
During the month of July, I am taking part in the Smashwords Summer/Winter Sale and offering Lunch in Brooklyn for FREE all month at Smashwords.
Click here for the book page and code. What’s the catch? There isn’t one, just a request: if you like it, be like Heather Locklear and tell a friend.
Review: “Wonderful YA-but-not-YA”
Lina gives Lunch five stars on Amazon
(and on Goodreads) and says, “Lunch in Brooklyn is a great example of a book that should have been published and wasn’t. Definitely worth a read.”
Thanks, Lina!
Have Lunch in Mr. Beller’s Neighborhood
Read a little more of Lunch on Mr. Beller’s Neighborhood.
“The Gift of Tongues” combines the New Yorker’s love of rooftops with the middle schoolers love of the grotesque and overtly sexual.
And in the spirit of NYC 1970s autobiographical realness, here’s a picture of me in 7th grade, holding a light meter for my father, who was a photographer. New Yorkers will recognize the Fox Police locks.
iLunch
Lunch in Brooklyn is now available through iTunes.
Review: “fresh, present and compelling”
Review by: Susan Price on May 08, 2012 : 
Lunch in Brooklyn is an amazing and engaging read. Set in late 1970s NYC, it is a year in the life of 14 year old Kate. The late 1970s in NYC were remarkable for parents and children – one might say their roles and responsibilities were practically reversed. Rebecca Moore has really captured so much of that era, both at home and at school, along with the teenage angst we all experience growing up. A very fresh, present and compelling read, you can’t help but identify with Kate and so many other characters.
Posted on Smashwords today.
Review: Christen McCurdy
Christen McCurdy has reviewed Lunch in Brooklyn on her blog, Message: I Care.
You can read more of the book here.
Illustration from Sassy, November 1993.
Lunch in Brooklyn 