Mr. Boardwalk, PPB

BY LOUIS GREENSTEIN

At age seven, Jason Benson first experiences the wonders of Atlantic City: Carousel music. Belgian waffles. A clanking roller coaster, riders screaming in free fall. Freak shows and barkers. Amazed and smitten, Jason decides his real life will happen in this magical shore town. Growing up in a suburb in the 1960s and 1970s, he lives only for his summers on the boardwalk, where his father owns a pretzel stand. From a gypsy friend the boy learns to juggle, and soon "Jason the Magnificent" entertains rapt beachside crowds. He can't wait to finish high school so he can move to Atlantic City permanently. But his plans go awry. More than 20 years later, we meet him as a grumpy, distant copywriter who has never spoken of his youth. In deftly interwoven passages, MR. BOARDWALK traces the excitement and perils of the young Jason and the moral growth of the adult who must come to terms with the past. It is a dual coming-of-age story like no other--a tale of magic and reality intertwined.