Don't Cry For Me, West Covina

In his 2017 memoir Wild Seed: Searching for My Brother Dan, journalist and author Edward Guthmann described a family tragedy and its aftermath. In Don't Cry for Me, West Covina, a new collection of 25 personal essays, he circles back once again -- this time in a lighter vein.

In the title chapter Guthmann recalls his hometown of West Covina, a Los Angeles suburb that frustrated him with its conformity and provincialism, but provided an impetus to explore a much broader canvas.

We see him falling in love with movies at an early age ("It Started with Fred Astaire"); landing a role on the professional stage ("The Year I Played in Oliver!"); protesting the Vietnam War during the nationwide student strike of 1970 ("Breaking the Redwood Curtain"); leaving the cozy college town of Arcata for the frenzy of San Francisco ("A Dive in the Deep End"); and building a career as a San Francisco Chronicle arts reporter and reviewer ("Confessions of a Recovering Movie Critic").

Guthmann introduces his imperious paternal aunt ("Aunt Rollie Conquers the Universe"), and the loquacious rapscallion Mamie Jackson, whose language has a "cascading musical quality" and an urge to shock. We travel with him to Las Vegas when the town was still small and ruled by the Mob; to Europe, where he spent one summer on a $5-a-day allowance; to Cameroun, where his mother and four aunts lived as young girls and befriended a baby gorilla, Bushman, who became a star attraction at the Lincoln Park Zoo in Chicago.

At turns witty and tender, playful and nostalgic, the stories in this collection reflect the author's wide-ranging, lifelong curiosity.