Memoir Relives 1960s Childhood in Ohio
Book Review: “The Coterian Retreat,” by Timothy S. Simer
A month ago, mostly out of curiosity, I bought a book written by a friend of mine, Timothy Simer, “The Coterian Retreat,” which chronicles the author’s childhood and adolescence in Hamilton, Ohio, in the 1960s and early ‘70s. I admit I did not expect a lot from this book, in spite of my knowledge of Tim’s considerable writing ability. I imagine that if I wrote about my childhood the work would be disgustingly sentimental and not completely honest – I can’t imagine that being of much interest to the world, much less publishable.
Well, I can report that Tim’s book, published in 2005, is, indeed, unapologetically sentimental, wholesome, Midwestern, romantic, Christian and warm-hearted. It is also shockingly honest, detailed and gratifyingly a little salacious and violent. I enjoyed it a great deal.
“The Coterian Retreat” begins with short vignettes of small-town life. Simer reaches into a closet and pulls down a box of long-kept snow globes. He gives each one a shake and they come alive. His family, the town and its little stores, the farm, social gatherings, pies and casseroles, hugs of bosomy grannies in aprons and cotton dresses, the barn and ponds, and, of course, himself as a boy, are all here, just as they were back then. If such a childhood is part of your history you may be grateful, as I was, for this trip back home.
I have two pages of notes on parts of the book that are especially well written, funny or insightful, but I’ll share just one that is touching to me, as I have a similar memory. It’s a small moment in the book but it is one of those moments that people sometimes notice when they slow down and observe. Years later, they may have forgotten everything else about that day or that year, but they can recall that one shiny ornament of time.
The scene is the lobby of an elementary school auditorium after a mid-December Christmas program.
***
“My eyes and mind wandered as the lobby gradually began to empty, and families bundled up to face down the bitter December weather. The room’s picture windows had steamed up, as the outside doors accommodated the departing traffic. A mighty burst of shivery air chilled the panes each time the heavy doors were forced open. Frost formed over the glass, and the color wheel aimed at the tree cast a corresponding reflected glow on the icy windows. The moment was a Christmas memory; an instant uncoupled from the continuity of time – its emotional power apparent even as it was occurring.”
***
As the book progresses, is gets dark at times, as does a typical life. A story arc begins to emerge along with such universal childhood themes as adolescence, separation, isolation, self-esteem, competition, and, of course, young lust and first love. I was drawn gently into this memoir by the clear storytelling and began to care about these characters – family, friends, neighbors, church members and teachers. I cannot say I eventually forgot I knew the author and therefore had a predetermined interest in how this story would play out, but I did settle into the story’s hazy yet not all that far away time in America and began to relive anxieties and struggles of a young boy trying to make his way in a world with few advantages. In hindsight, it was a slower, simpler time, but childhood, to the child, is never simple or easy. I think some readers will relate to Simer’s journey through his early life and think, so it wasn’t just me.
Guy D. Johnson is a writer and marketing communications professional. Previously an animation studio owner, daily newspaper editor, reporter and photographer, volunteer fireman, railroad bridge gang helper, FM radio station underling and cave guide. He has lived on farmland trusted to the sun and rain; atop a wooded hill; beside great rivers; upon an arid, high plateau; and at the subtropical coast of the Gulf of Mexico. For 20 years, he worked and wrote in New Orleans.