The Cigarette Ballet: One Son, One Mother, Way Too Much Smoke

"Prepare to laugh and cry and be reminded that nothing is more important than family." -Amy Gash, former executive editor, Algonquin Books

Some families break apart. Others hold on for dear life.

As a kid in the 1960s, in a tight-knit steel town outside of Pittsburgh, Bob Dzik's favorite place is under the kitchen table, eavesdropping while his family's rotating cast of friends and relatives rant, argue, swear, throw things, dance, play cards, eat, drink, and light cigarette after cigarette. His fierce Italian American mother, Mert, is the beating heart of their working-class neighborhood, but when Mert divorces his father and marries Bob's high school friend, then calls claiming an alleged mobster is poisoning her, well, things get seriously complicated. Was Bob's headstrong mother losing her mind? Were sinister forces at work?

Bob has a plan. He tries to escape, taking a position at a quasi-ethical high finance operation in Houston, but he soon learns that running from family is like running in place. Mert's accusations escalate, and Bob's desperation to find answers leads him to run-ins with nefarious funeral home directors, quack doctors, crooked city inspectors, his own squabbling siblings, and, truly disconcerting, the original cast of friends and relatives from the kitchen days. Against the backdrop of the Vietnam War, vanishing blue-collar cities, and an oil boom in Houston, Bob struggles to save his mom while his clear-thinking wife has no qualms about leaving everybody, including Bob, and running for the Texas hills.

A born storyteller, Bob Dzik somehow manages to make his "no-good, rotten, chain-smoking, chain-swearing, larger-than-life family" utterly endearing. Filled with heartache, humor, and hope, The Cigarette Ballet is a wildly entertaining memoir that is a testament to the unwavering power of love.