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From a longtimeNew Yorkerstaff cartoonist, an evocative familymemoir, a love letter to New York City, and a delightful exploration of the origins of creativity - richly interleaved with the author's witty, beloved cartoons A wry and brilliantly observed portrait of the budding young cartoonist andhis Upper West Side Jewish family in the age of JFK and Sputnik. Sipress, adreamer and obsessive drawer, goes hazy when it comes totheceaselessly imparted lessons-on-life from his father, the meticulous, upwardly mobile proprietor of Revere Jewelers, and in the face of the angsty expectations of his migraine-prone mother.With self-deprecation, wit, and artistry, Sipress paints his haplessplace in his indelibly dysfunctional family, from the time he was tricked byhis unreliable older sister into rocketing his pet turtle out his twelfth-floor bedroomwindow, to the moment he walks away from a Harvard PhD program in Russian history to begin his journey as a professional cartoonist.