The Barefoot Bingo Caller
CBC Books | CBC | Posted: May 18, 2017 3:40 PM | Last Updated: July 9, 2017
Antanas Sileika
In The Barefoot Bingo Caller Antanas Sileika finds what's funny and touching in the most unlikely places, from the bingo hall to the collapsing Soviet Union. He shares stories that span his attempts to shake off his suburban, ethnic, folk-dancing childhood to his divided allegiance as a Lithuanian-Canadian father. Antanas has a keen eye for social comedy, bringing to life such memorable characters as ageing beat poets, oblivious college students, the queen of the booze cans, and an obdurate porcupine. Passing through places as varied as the prime minister's office and the streets of Paris, these wry and moving dispatches on work and family, art and identity are ones to be shared and savoured. (From ECW Press)
From the book
To prevent me from reading all day long my mother bought a piano.
A piano demonstrated that she had finally got back something of what had been lost by the war. A piano represented culture and achievement, and her youngest son was to be the embodiment of the return to grace. All the better that no one else on our working class street in Weston owned a piano.
Although I had no musical talent, I could use the piano as a form of retaliation upon my much older brothers.
From The Barefoot Bingo Caller by Antanas Sikeika ©2017. Published by ECW Press.