A life that you can identify with

If you are reading this, there is a good chance that you can relate to “Rust Belt Boy,” a memoir in the form of essays by Paul Hertneky.

The Ambridge, Pa., native knows how unique his steel-town upbringing was and eloquently shares snapshots in his new book (Bauhan Publishing, $21.95): the enclaves of European ethnic groups, the hard edge to life, the devotion found in the churches, the pierogi, the class-consciousness, the bars, the family gatherings, the high school football.

Most people of a certain age who live (or used to live) in Youngstown, Sharon, Warren, Niles, Struthers, Campbell, Girard and other such cities will remember.

“Rust Belt Boy” is in the vein of many other books and movies about the steel towns that line the rivers of Western Pennsylvania.

The repetition of it all has churned it into cliche, especially among those who only heard it from parents and grandparents.

But Hertneky, who grew up in what would prove to be the final decade of the era (he was born in 1955), does more than just describe the streets and the people. He divines the meaning and the emotion that made it cling to his memory. That’s what makes “Rust Belt Boy” fresh.

The coming-of-age memories in a town with a strong personality become larger as the years go by.

Like his grandparents, Hertneky would later become an immigrant (of sorts) himself, leaving Ambridge for the East Coast.

It’s not as daunting as leaving the old country by steam ship, never to return. But it’s similar in that it was part of the search for a better life.

In Hertneky’s case, it likely also gave him perspective on the immigrant experience and provided a mental link to the earlier generations who made Ambridge what it was.

Hertneky will sign copies of his book Saturday at noon at Penguin Bookshop, 417 Beaver St., Sewickley, Pa., and then will visit Laughlin Memorial Library in Ambridge (one of his childhood haunts) at 2:30 p.m.