Growing Up Absurd in Suburbia

Lost in Place: Growing Up Absurd in Suburbia, by Mark Salzman.

Picture a 13-year-old boy, small for his age and not athletic, in the 1970's.  Are you uncomfortable yet? Meet Mark Salzman, the author of this satisfying memoir, on the cusp of adolescence.  One day Mark goes to a kung fu movie and finds his true vocation.  He decides to pursue the life of a Zen monk, with all the passion that "is possible only when you don't yet have to make a living, when you are too young to drive, and when you don't have a girlfriend."  What does that look like, exactly?  Well, his parents won't let him shave his head or quit junior high to wander the world, but he does the best he can.  He transforms the basement into his vision of a Buddhist temple, with lots of incense and knick-knacks from the Oriental gift shop in his small town.  He borrows his father's bathrobe and orders a bald-head wig from an ad in the back of a comic book.  His sister says he looks like an eggplant, but nothing distracts Mark from pursuing his dream.

Mark's dedication to kung-fu carries him through high school and dumps him out of the other side. This is the 1970's, years before there was a variety of martial arts studios in every town.  The only martial arts class he can find is taught by a man who is more drill sergeant than sifu, fueled more by alcohol and rage than by spirituality and equanimity.  Mark gives it his all anyway, and faces a chasm of loss and regret when his dream implodes.

By turns hilarious and poignant, this is an honest, big-hearted memoir.