It was more a welcome home party than a formal book signing adventure. And the crowd loved it! Alisyn Camerota
It was Friday night when friends, former schoolmates, Shrewsbury old timers and those new to the borough all crowded into Borough Hall to visit with news anchor and correspondent Alisyn Camerota .
The Shrewsbury Historical Society had planned the book signing for their museum near town hall. But the crowd was so large it had to be moved to the Meeting room at Borough Hall, where it was still overflowing with more than 100 guests of all ages eager to see the journalist and ask her questions about her book, Combat Love, and her life in Shrewsbury.
The book is already a leading seller throughout the country and focuses on Shrewsbury and the Jersey Shore when Camerota lived in the borough in the 1980s.
It was Mayor Kim Eulner who invited the author and journalist to come back to Shrewsbury for the book signing, unlike any she has already had in states across the nation.
This one was a book signing where Camerato was not only loved for her writing, but also for coming back to her growing up home, meeting with friends from her teen age era, and visiting and talking about the changes and similarities of her hometown between the 1980s and the present.
And the mayor asked her to be here, not only for the excellence of her writing, and the fact the book focuses attention on familiar names and places, but also because the Mayor is a longtime friend of the author.
They went to kindergarten together in Shrewsbury.
Camerota was also formerly with Fox News. She details in her book what was life like for her growing up in Shrewsbury in the 1980s, the lone daughter in a family fraught with problems and a teenager caught up in the music of Shrapnel, a local punk rock band, drugs, independence and neglect.
During the 75-minute-long meeting in Borough Hall, Eulner and Camerota sat like old friends in two comfortable chairs looking more like old buddies catching up than the professionals that both are. Eulner guided the author through a series of questions, anticipating what the audience wanted to hear, but often interrupted the flow, as both laughed, or grabbed hands or chuckled out loud thinking of other times and instances the questions brought up.
Yes, she’s seen the house where she used to live, Camerota told the Mayor, but hasn’t been in it, something it sounded like the Mayor would help arrange before she left. The house is now on the National Historic Registry for its age and architecture.
Yes, lots of people mentioned in the book are in the room, they both said, as one or the other pointed to familiar faces the author could still recognize in spite of the more than 30 years since she was that rascal of a teenager with them, enjoying summers, loving Red Bank Regional High School, and caught up in Shrapnel, the five member local band that had such die hard fans who would follow them wherever they played.
Camerota told both sides of her life in Shrewsbury during the session that was both joyful and funny, as well as heartbreaking and serious as the attractive wisp of a woman told about the abuse of her father, the free wheeling attitude of her mother when it came to her upbringing, and the fact she herself always felt a void of love and not being the most important part of her mother’s life.
Her independence born of that upbringing and doubtlessly leading to her success and happiness today, included coming back, alone, from Washington state after her mother, then divorced, brought her to live. But Alisyn missed her Shrewsbury friends, with her mother’s blessing, headed back to Shrewsbury as a teenager, knocked on the door of a friend’s home and asked his parents if she could stay. They did welcome her, as did another family, her friends, and all her friends at Red Bank Regional.
She shared with the crowd that it was the times, a time when parents gave more free reign to their kids and let them learn more on their own, growing in strength and confidence. Perhaps parents of today are too much helicopter parents, she mused, then added with a touch of sadness, “they don’t have what we had….”
Combat Love took her ten years to write, Camerota explained, and yes, there are lots of stories that ended up on the cutting room floor, a few of which she shared with her hometown crowd. She wrote and re-wrote, she said, sometimes for hours at a time, others for five minutes, always overwhelming in each of the individual memories her writing helped recall.
Camerota admitted her mom did not want her to write the book because in part, it would make her look bad. Not so, the author said, saying that in the end her mom gave her approval and understood. She was convinced when her daughter told her that when the whole picture was taken in perspective, she indeed did come out as a loving mother. The duo is close today. And her mom is pleased with all her successes, including Combat Love.
Sure there are lots of names in the book, familiar names, as many in the audience attested. But for those who asked they not be named, yet Camerota knew were important in her teenage years and very much an important part of her life, she used names she made up, names that would enable them to recognize themselves, but which kept their identities private in the book.
Monmouth County in general and Shrewsbury in particular were different in the 80s, Camerota said, when drugs were easily available and popular in the historic little town. It was the shadowy side of the county she said, adding she is grateful that she herself dodged the bullet of the possible long-term results of illegal drug use and too much teen age partying.
The author told the story of Phil Donohue and how he was impactful in her life, credits him with helping her find the lasting love she now enjoys with her husband, and their two daughters and son.
She talked about going to Shrewsbury for school from kindergarten until midway through fifth grade when she was transferred to the more conservative New School of Monmouth County in Holmdel. She admits that after being there through eighth grade, she “was ready for Red Bank Regional.” Today, she is on the Red Bank Regional Hall of Fame.
She talked about how important Renee Maxwell, a teacher at Red Bank Regional was in her life and how generous and kind she was with her talent and time. She spoke about Friendly’s near the firehouse where the teenagers all gathered and her graduation with the class of 1984 .
As animated and exciting she was in talking about her life in Shrewsbury, and her warm-hearted laughter and sparkling eyes when someone brought up another memory, it was melancholy, serene, and meaningful when she recalled what she remembers most about Shrewsbury.
It’s the smell of honeysuckle, she sighed. The smell of honeysuckle in the warm air, on a sunny day, or a cool evening, always reminds the author of the very special Shrewsbury or her growing up years, a town that yes has changed, but somehow, is the same as the loving town and people she remembers from her teen aged years.
But it captivated audience Friday night who didn’t want to let their favorite author go. Those mentioned in the book sat listening, laughing, remembering, then adding their own memories. Four former mayors listened, laughed and must have had their own memories of their mayoral years, Dorothy Mason, Emilia Siciliano, Donald Burden and Erik Anderson, along with current Mayor Ulmer. The centenarian Carlotta Niles was also present recalling her own life in Shrewsbury in the 1980s.
The River Road Book Store at 759 River Road, Fair Haven, had two professional personnel at the book signing to assist, and Shrewsbury police officers carried in the boxes of books for those eagerly to purchase the books and have the author sign them with personal messages. Even the author, who also talked about being able to walk to the Eastern Branch Library a block from her home, remembers the Book Store, though by the more familiar name to longtime residents as the Fair Haven Book Store. Copies of Combat Love are available at the bookstore today.
Burden, who in addition to being a former mayor is also president of the Historical Society, said like everyone else in the borough he was thrilled to learn of Camerota’s successes through the years and her popular book on Shrewsbury. The Society hosted a wine and cheese get together following the book signing so residents could share more time with Camerota and view some of the exhibits at the museum. Camerota’s book is certainly very much a part of the history of the borough, he pointed out, since it tells so many stories about the people and places of the latter part of the 20th century.
“She told her story with laughter, with fond remembrances, and with a joy that makes us all proud of Shrewsbury,” Burden said, “yet she was able to also convey the sadness, personal grief and difficult times she endured. That she was able to forgive her father for his actions, realize she has the full and complete love of her mother and tells that story in such a heartfelt manner is a most generous gift to everyone who reads her book. We, like her, love the ‘honeysuckle’ aroma that keeps Shrewsbury and what it means to every family close to our hearts.”
“And I love the eggplant story,” he chuckled.
You’ve got to read the book to see the story!
