Review: Sting-Ray Afternoons

Sting-Ray Afternoons by Steve Rushin
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

This book had a lot going for it in my mind. First, the subject of the title, the Sting Ray bike, was something that I remember having as a kid. Mine was red, with an off-white banana seat and a three gear shifter stick bolted to the crossbar, in a location notorious for causing damage to boys when they had to stop quickly or ran into something. It was the coolest bike in the neighborhood. I figured this book would bring back these memories by the author riffing on his own memories. The author is about my age, so I expected the experiences to be similar. And, strangely enough, the author’s father worked for the same company my father worked for. The author’s Dad sold the tapes that my Dad helped manufacture. So another similarity. And lastly, I noticed in a quick word search of the book before I read it that the author lived in Lisle, Illinois early on, and that’s where I live now. These were why I chose to read this book, and my expectations were to get a large dose of nostalgia like watching The Wonder Years.

Here the book was hit or miss. The author method here was to riff a little on his life experiences as a youngster in the 60s and 70s, then take some aspect and drill down into an encyclopedic review of said topic I found some of these long asides interesting, but some not. For instance, the author talks of Christmas catalogs and their impact on kids toy requests for Christmas. I found the catalog info interesting, but the others were less so. And surprisingly there wasn’t as much about bikes as I would have expected given the title and the true need for a book about those classic and dangerous bikes.

I also ran across one of my pet peeves while listening to this audiobook. When a publisher goes to the effort and expense of creating an audiobook, I always hope that they do their due diligence and figure out how to correctly pronounce the names in the book. The audiobook I finished just prior to this had mentioned the neighboring Chicago suburb of Naperville and had somehow mispronounced that city name. But Lisle can be more difficult. It should be pronounced like Lyle Wagonner pronounced his name, with a long I, rhyming with “while”. Sometimes I get cold calls that pronounce it with a short I and with the s, rhyming with “whistle”. That’s wrong, but somewhat common and sounds humorous, and you can see the earnestness behind the person taking their best shot. In the audio for this book, I believe it was pronounced Lale, rhyming with “pail”. That lack of respect for the author’s home town lowered my enjoyment.

Overall I enjoyed the author's personal nostalgia anecdotes, but found the more historical discussions hit or miss. Any deeper meaning, or story, didn't stick. 2.5 stars


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