For today’s Book Review Tuesday post, we are going back in time… Once Upon a Decade: Tales of the Fifties is a collection of stories by Clark Zlotchew that take the reader on a journey back into the 1950s.

I met Clark on GoodReads; after trading a few messages about book reviews I had posted and quotations we both liked, he invited me to review his book. My review copy was generously provided by Clark, free of charge.

Once Upon a Decade opens with a Foreward setting the stage for the stories to come. Zlotchew takes the time to remind (or inform) readers of the state of the world in the 1950s – a time before computers and AIDS, when record players, typewriters, racism and hats were de rigeur and ladies were expected to act like ladies (and gentlemen like gentlemen). I found this set-up to be a great introduction to the stories that followed, particularly since the attitudes and language that are found in most of them are typical of the times and might otherwise seem forced or even offensive.
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