I think Lyndon Johnson was the president when I read this thing, so I don’t remember too many details. Still, if anyone can figure it out, you guys can. Here’s what I do remember:
[ul]
[li]it must have been written in the early to mid 60s[/li][li]it’s a smart-alecky first person narrative (in the style of a younger, slightly less depressed Holden Caufield) [/li][li]the main character is a boy, about 12 years old, who lives with his sister in the city (New York?)[/li][li]the parents are considering, or going through a divorce[/li][li]our hero smokes his first cigarette[/li][li]he and his sister hang out in a part of their apartment they call “The Room”[/li][/ul]
I know it isn’t much to go on, but anyone recognize it?
Sounds like The Gay Place by William Brammer, ISBN: 0292708319. I haven’t read it, but remember seeing an article about it in Esquire a few years back by someone who called it “the perfect American political novel.”
That’s not it, Krokodil, but thanks. I just read the description of “The Gay Place” and added it to my “to read” list. Any other ideas?
One last ditch bump for the snowed in crowd.
You’ve got my curiosity piqued – is this an adult novel? a young adult novel? is there any, yanno, PLOT involved?
Best I can remember it was a Young Adult novel – Catcher in the Rye meets It’s Like This, Cat. It had an episodic, year-in-the-life-of-the-kid kind of plot. Can’t recall any more details, though.
Could it be The Joyous Season by Patrick Dennis? I first read that in my teens. It opens with a Christmas day that is one disaster after another, culminating in the protagonist’s parents deciding to get a divorce. The family lives in an apartment in New York city. Over the course of the novel, the kids spend time with both grandmothers in their very different enviroments, and with each parent and their new SOs. It has the required happy ending and parental reconciliation.
That’s it!
Man, I love the SDMB and you are my new personal hero, Graycat. I’ve been trying to remember the name of that book for over 25 years. Thank you! 
You’re welcome. Really, I was surprised to be the first with the right answer. Usually, it seems like there’s a simulpost with the answer within an hour.
I enjoyed all the Patrick Dennis books. Found them in my local libraries in the early '70s. Now it seems that if you find any of his works, it’s Auntie Mame. I guess shelf space is limited, though.