Sunnyvale: The Rise and Fall of a Silicon Valley Family
Author: Jeff Goodell
List Price: $24.95
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ISBN: 0679456988
Publisher: Villard (11 July, 2000)
Sales Rank: 77,984
Average Customer Rating: 4.52 out of 5
Customer Reviews
Rating: 5 out of 5
You can't fix life with a microchip.
Jeff Goodell's memoir about the discintigration of an American family (his own) in small-town Sunnyvale --set against the backdrop of California's surging growth of computer technology as well as the internet explosion into modern day America in nearby Silicon Valley-- shows us that behind the sterility of corporate computer America, looking further into the microchip mentality, there are actual people and their very human lives behind the mechanical scenes. The author paints a very human picture of family life when everything doesn't go perfect. There is no 'netguide' to find a handy solution, no 'Dysfunctional Families for Dummies' reference book for a quick fix. The book begins as his parents divorce when he is 19, and carries us through the next twenty years of emotional struggle as Goodell has experienced it. He deals with anger, resentment, heartache, disappointment, guilt, loss, and then assumes the responsibility for trying to fix everything that broke. I'ts not as easy as putting a new hard drive into a computer. Goodell matures as the book progresses from the cocky and condescending teen he was into the reflective and forgiving man he has become. The book is beautifully written and the reader easily drawn into the lives of the writer and his family members. Anyone who has dealt with their own family struggles (who hasn't?) can relate to this book and will find comfort from the fact that we are not alone ---everyone has a story and Goodell has poingiently given us his.
Rating: 2 out of 5
Not Truth in Advertising....
I am Mr. Goodell's contemporary in time and space: I am two years his senior, and grew up about 2 miles from him in Sunnyvale. While Mr. Goodell left the Valley at 20, I stayed for 40 years. While his family scattered, my mother is still in the home that I was raised in. While he is an author, both my husband and I spent our careers in high-tech. His father was a landscaper, mine worked at Lockheed. His family history was atypical for Sunnyvale in the 60s and early 70s. I know where his school is (it is the Mother School of my own), where the house he grew up in is, and the locales where his story plays out. However, Mr. Goodell misses many major opportunities with this book: he starts his story when he reaches adulthood (19) and his family has "fallen". He doesn't talk about growing up in an enviornment that takes on the characteristics of the changes that swirl around him: from agricultural economy to high-tech; he doesn't comment on the conflict between the defense contractors and the anti-war high-tech utopians; and he doesn't relate the growth, the passion, the intensity, the joy of people creating an industry. He leaves Sunnyvale, and 90% of his tale is from a distance. He speaks with the voice of an outsider, a person who had no connection to the passions of the community.This is a terrific human interest story, a roadmap of children coming to grips with divorce, a man coming into his own. It is NOT, however, the story of Sunnyvale, nor is it the story of a Silicon Valley Family. While it was good on it's own merits, it was a total disappointment based on it's title and hype.
Rating: 4 out of 5
A pleasant surprise.
I didn't know anything about this story or author when I picked up this book; I just wanted to read it because I grew up in Sunnyvale (and still live in the Bay Area). I found that the story moves along quietly and rather gently while describing serious subject matter: a family is broken apart by divorce. Meanwhile, the vast promise of the Silicon Valley is the background. It was a very honest portrayal of life and troubles in this area, very authentic to me: my father was an immigrant, drawn to California and the Bay Area as the promised land, and he was very much like the men in this book, wanting success, to make something of himself, expecting the best from his children, pressuring them to succeed because how can you possibly fail when you live in an Eichler home in a place called Sunnyvale in the place that created the technological revolution? Like the author himself, I was not the least bit drawn to the computer industry, wanting instead to be artistic and creative. Therefore, I never belonging here. I've been trying to get out of this area for years; in the book, the lead character/author moves to New York. I never realized that those of us who grew up in Sunnyvale could have similar life experiences despite differences in ethnicity, family background, etc. Your hometown influences you and your family and every part of your life. How nice to read a book that illustrates this so effectively.
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