Hungry Hill: A Memoir

by Carole O'Malley Gaunt

Book Overview

On a sweltering June night in 1959, Betty O'Malley died from lymphatic cancer, leaving behind an alcoholic husband and eight shell-shocked children -- seven sons and one daughter, ranging in age from two to fifteen years. The daughter, Carole, was thirteen at the time. In this poignant memoir, she recalls in vivid detail the chaotic course of her family life over the next four years. The setting for the story is Hungry Hill, an Irish-Catholic working-class...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1558495894
• ISBN13: 9781558495890
• Release Date: May 2007
• Publisher: University of Massachusetts Press
• Length: 304 Pages
• Weight: 0.95 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.7" x 6.0" x 8.9"
• Grade Range: Postsecondary and higher

Customer Reviews

From the Heart!

In this moving memoir we meet Carole. She is thrown into growing-up without a mom at the young age of 13, after her mother passes. Carole is sister to 7 brothers, and being the oldest puts her in the position by her father to fill in the gap, so to speak. Responsibilities are placed upon her that no 13-year old should have to endure. She daily struggles to keep the family afloat the best way she can. It only becomes worse when her father marries Mary, a woman who is anything but a replacement mother. Her erratic emotions and her need for complete attention only add more horror to the family situation. Life is not easy for any of the children, but it is certainly hardest on Carole. This memoir is written from the heart of one who has cried many a tear, prayed many a prayer, and battled many a war. All before she could vote, or cry out in protest. It is a hard look at the cruel turn life often brings to those undeserving. I feel writing this story allowed the author the release she desperately needed. I don't feel it is a story that is the author's alone, but one that many would relate to in one form or another, and that is the power behind it. A well written, heart-wrenching memoir that you will remember for a long while after putting the book down. Very well done.

Captivating memoir

Carol O'Malley's captivating memoir is akin to a time machine - while reading " Hungry Hill" , I felt as I were transported back in time to the early 60's , reliving those wonderful Camelot years of innocence . Being a Springfield native , half Irish and a Cathedral graduate ,I felt a kinship with the author . It was fun to read about such local past noteables as Matty Ryan and Eddie Boland , as well as dredging up memories of Srs. Patty Joe and Helen Maria . I was prompted to search out my old Pantherpix ,( a yearbook which Carole says she named !) , and look at the pictures of forgotten classmates and the nuns Carole mentioned . Lo and behold , one of Carole's 7 siblings, Steven, was in my graduating class although I don't believe we ever shared a classroom. I , too , was a child of an alcoholic and felt the pressure to be "perfect" and , as a result, was also a member of the National Honor Society . I felt empathy for Carole each time her father placed more burdens on her young shoulders . I hope that Carole O'Malley found some peace with the writing of this memoir and confronting the ghosts who abandonded her , for as she points out , death is a form of abandonment . This book will leave its imprint on your soul.

More Fascinating than Fiction

I never met a memoir I didn't like, because the story of a life is more fascinating than fiction. With painstakingly vivid recall and acute attention to detail, Carole O'Malley Gaunt took this reader on a roller coater ride down memory lane. Irish-Catholic baby boomers will identify with Carole's upbringing, but very few of us can come remotely close to her tragic experiences. The second oldest in a family of eight children, Carole compromised her adolescence to help raise her brothers and run the household after the untimely death of her beautiful mother. Even though the family was fortunate enough to employ outside help, the charming but alcoholic Dad did little to hold it together except to drown his sorrows in whiskey and Frank Sinatra songs. And if that scenario wasn't heartbraking enough, enter the wicked stepmother who would give anyone feelings of violence. Not long thereafter, Mr. O'Malley drank himself to an early grave. Depsite the sorrow and dysfunction, this is a hopeful and triumphant story of a brave, bright girl coming of age during the Camelot years. Even though the author is a few years older than this reviewer, her memoir revived recollections of old-fashioned department stores, soda fountains, parks, proms, beaches, basketball games, Catholic high school activities, after-school and summer jobs ... and Elvis. I am very grateful that Carole kindly included an epilogue so that we didn't have to wonder what happened to her brothers. HUNGRY HILL deserves best-seller status and a sequel.

A Tale of Spirit

In the interest of full diclosure, I went to grammar school and high school with Carole. I knew many of the people and places in the book. I did not, however, know the details of her home life. I recall being in awe of the girl with no parents who appeared so together in High School. The book tells a much different story and gives me a much greater appreciation of her struggles and her success. Carole mixes narrative with brief dialogues between her and her deceased parents, her stepmother, or her brother. These scenes are sometimes riveting. The scene with her stepmother in a nursing home is amazing, as Carole searches for some understanding of the past with a woman whose mental capacities are clearly gone. By the last of these scenes - a call to one of her many brothers - I wanted to leap in and ask dozens of questions while I had the two of them on the line!! The book covers 1959 to 1963. Prior to JFK's death and the escalation of Vietnam, the "1960's" as we know them today had yet to begin. Our High School years were really an extension of the 1950's. "Hungry Hill" accurately captures attitudes, lifestyles, and social structures that were eroded or even swept away in the 10 years following our graduation from Cathedral High School. It gives a wonderful picture of the neighborhood in the waning days of America's Post-WWII euphoria. Carole is spot-on with her descriptions of the clergy, local officials and the other adults in our lives. Her description of our Senior Prom was both funny and sad. "Hungry Hill" also tells a touching story of a child who had the inner strength to cope with some of the most devastating events a child can witness.

The Ring of Truth

This memoir could have been a wrenching tearjerker, but Carole Gaunt, who lost both her parents in her teens and raised her seven younger brothers, presents her story with journalistic sincerity. It is packed with details of coming of age in the early 60's and the exquisite detail has the absolute ring of truth. It compares very well to Molly O'Neill's "Mostly True: A memoir of Family, Food, and Baseball", and to Terry Ryan's "The Prizewinner of Defiance Ohio: How My Mother Raised Ten Kids on 25 Words or Less". It's an engrossing read.