{"product_id":"in-the-days-of-my-youth-i-was-told-what-it-means-to-be-a-man","title":"In the Days of My Youth I Was Told What It Means to Be a Man","description":"\u003cbody\u003e\n\u003cb\u003eTitle: \u003c\/b\u003eIn the Days of My Youth I Was Told What It Means to Be a Man\n\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eAuthor: \u003c\/b\u003eTom Junod\n\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eISBN: \u003c\/b\u003e9780375400391\n\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublisher: \u003c\/b\u003eDoubleday\n\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublished: \u003c\/b\u003e2026\n\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eBinding: \u003c\/b\u003eHardcover\n\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eLanguage: \u003c\/b\u003eEnglish\n\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eNumber of Pages: \u003c\/b\u003e416\n\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eCondition Note: \u003c\/b\u003eNew from the publisher\n\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublisher Description: \u003c\/b\u003e\u003cb\u003eFrom two-time National Magazine Award winner Tom Junod, a searching, brilliantly stylized memoir about a charismatic, philandering father who tried to mold his son in his image, the many secrets he hid, the son's obsessive quest to uncover them, and ultimately, the true meaning of manhood\u003c\/b\u003e \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eBig Lou Junod dominated every room he entered. He worshipped the sun and the sea, his own bronzed body, Frank Sinatra, and beautiful women. He was a successful traveling handbag salesman who carried himself like a celebrity. He'd return from the road with stories of going to nightclubs where the stars--Ava Gardner, maybe Liz Taylor--\"couldn't keep their eyes off . . . \u003ci\u003eyour father\u003c\/i\u003e.\" He had countless affairs and didn't do much to hide them. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eLou could be cruel to Fran, his wife of fifty-nine years, but he loved his youngest son. Tom was a skin-and-bones, nervous boy, devoted to his mother, but Lou sought to turn him into a version of himself. He showered him with advice about how to dress (\"A turtleneck is the most flattering thing a man can wear\"), how to be an alpha male, and especially, how to attract and bed women. His parting speech when Tom went to college was: \"Do yourself a favor and date a Jewish girl. They're all nymphos.\" When Tom started seeing his future wife, Janet, Lou's efforts to entice Tom into his version of manhood accelerated on nights in New York, L.A., and Paris. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eTom wrestled with Lou's imposing presence all his life. When one of Lou's mistresses stood up at his funeral and announced, \"Can we all . . . just agree . . . that \u003ci\u003ethis . . . \u003c\/i\u003ewas \u003ci\u003ea man\u003c\/i\u003e,\" Tom set off to learn the facts of his father's life, and why he was the way he was. The stunning secrets he uncovered--about his father, his father's lovers, and deceptions going back generations--staggered Tom, but in the process allowed him, at last, to become his own man, by his own lights. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ci\u003eIn the Days of My Youth I Was Told What It Means to Be a Man\u003c\/i\u003e is an intensely emotional detective story powered by a series of cascading revelations. The book is a triumph of bravura writing; it is a tale of a son reckoning with the consequences of his father's life, and in the end, the story of the son's redemption.\u003c\/body\u003e","brand":"Doubleday","offers":[{"title":"In the Days of My Youth I Was Told What It Means to Be a Man | Tom Junod | Hardcover | 9780375400391 | New | Memoir 1734525","offer_id":48307572015256,"sku":"1734525","price":32.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0492\/1609\/4360\/files\/718cyk3Z1HL.jpg?v=1773151272","url":"https:\/\/roundaboutbookstore.com\/products\/in-the-days-of-my-youth-i-was-told-what-it-means-to-be-a-man","provider":"Roundabout Books","version":"1.0","type":"link"}