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Title: The Big House: A Century in the Life of an American Summer Home by George Howe Colt ISBN: 0-684-84517-2 Publisher: Scribner Pub. Date: 10 June, 2003 Format: Hardcover Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $26.00 |
Average Customer Rating: 4.94 (18 reviews)
Rating: 4
Summary: Memories and more
Comment: If you enjoyed Jackson McCrae's BARK OF THE DOGWOOD or Baldacci's WISH YOU WELL, then you'll like this book. It's so moving and full of life--so heart-warming and touching. Full of memories and feelings that seems to spring to the surface, you'll never find yourself "having" to finish it. As a matter of fact, it's one of those "I hated for it to end" books. Do yourself a favor and read this one.
Also recommended: BARK OF THE DOGWOOD and WISH YOU WELL
Rating: 5
Summary: the poet's vision
Comment: I was initially drawn to this book by its initial presentation. A summer home. Cape Cod. A family's history. It was all of interest to me as a former Cape Cod summer star. But the real treasure was found as I ravished through the first few pages. Colt enters the home in its "wintered" version. Here we see the poet at work. The portrait of the out of season home in its sleepy state, frozen in form with careless summer toss abouts at rest is painted so vividly I could feel the terry cloth of the beach towels.
The family history was the bonus. I was delighted by the language, and compelled by the author's connection to the house. Thank You Mr. Colt for sharing with us your history. What a talent you have for writing. I could tell how much you struggled with each word and its value to the portrait.
Rating: 5
Summary: Beautiful, Thoughtful, Heartbreaking
Comment: "The Big House" is a big piece of work by George Howe Colt.
For a century, "The Big House," an eleven bedroom architectural gem on Cape Cod, has been in the Atkinson/Colt family. At the start of the book, Colt describes taking his young family to the house for what may be the last summer. Alas, the extended family can no longer afford to keep the home and it must be sold.
The house has served as a center of gravity for this family, a place which pulls them back each summer to live out graceful and simple Boston Brahim traditions. The house also serves as a metaphor for the fading fortunes of this once wealthy, once socially prominent family whose entire caste-the Brahmins of Boston--has become irrelevant.
Through the prism of the house and its meaning to his family, Colt also delves into his family's history of mental illness, of marriages that become estranged, of boys that start out as golden children and end up tarnished old men.
He also recounts his own story. He began his adult life as a young Brahmin with disdain for his heritage. Now in mid-life and a New Yorker, he is deeply proud of the many traits (e.g., thrift, reverence for family) bred deep in his bones.
I would recommend this book to those who gravitate towards serious memoirs and thoughtful accounts of profound issues (e.g., meaning of family). It is a beautiful read.
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Title: Frankie's Place: A Love Story by Jim Sterba ISBN: 0802117473 Publisher: Grove Press Pub. Date: June, 2003 List Price(USD): $23.00 |
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Title: Liars and Saints by Maile Meloy ISBN: 0743244354 Publisher: Scribner Pub. Date: June, 2003 List Price(USD): $24.00 |
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Title: Forever Friends : A Novel by Lynne Hinton ISBN: 0062517481 Publisher: Harper SanFrancisco Pub. Date: 15 April, 2003 List Price(USD): $21.95 |
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Title: The Great Fire: A Novel by Shirley Hazzard ISBN: 0374166447 Publisher: Farrar Straus & Giroux Pub. Date: 14 October, 2003 List Price(USD): $24.00 |
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Title: The Hills at Home : A Novel by Nancy Clark ISBN: 037542203X Publisher: Pantheon Books Pub. Date: 18 February, 2003 List Price(USD): $25.00 |
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