700 Sundays

WARNING: SPOILERS AHEAD.

Henceforth, these book reports will be a time-saving device. You need not read entire books anymore. Read these condensed versions instead. You'll have that much more time for your own blog.

Today I skimmed "700 Sundays" by Billy Crystal, published in 2005.

It is a memoir of his childhood. He was born in 1948. He grew up in Long Beach, Long Island. He had two older brothers, Rip and Joel. It was a typical 1950's suburban Jewish family.

When Billy was nine, the family got a new car, a 1957 gray Plymouth Belvedere. Unfortunately it was accidentally wrecked in a parking lot by a clumsy driver. Fortunately, that driver was a member of the Mafia, and, not wanting to deal with insurance companies, he had the car fixed at no charge to Billy's family.

Billy loved singing and telling jokes at family gatherings. He copied a dirty-joke routine from a show the family had seen in the Catskills. That was a little embarrassing for his parents.

Billy's father played the mandolin. His grandfather owned a music store in Manhattan. His Uncle Milt had the brilliant idea of having jazz musicians record their songs, and selling records through the store, on the label, "Commodore". Through the years, Billy got to meet many famous musicians such as Roy Eldridge, and singers such as Billie Holliday. However, larger music stores put the small, independent ones out of business in the early 1970's.

Billy also describes being entertained by his crazy Jewish relatives: Uncle Milt, Aunt Helen, Uncle Berns, Aunt Marcia and Aunt Sheila.

Billy's father taught the kids to play baseball, and took them to Yankees games. He took Billy to visit his workplace, and introduced him to celebrities. Sunday was Billy's favorite day of the week, because it was usually spent with his father. When Billy was 15, his father had a heart attack and died. It was then Billy realized his own mortality, and he calculated that if his lifespan were to be as short as his father's, he would have only 700 Sundays to be with his family.

This book is based on the Tony-Award winning play, "700 Sundays".