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This title in other editionseBook editionsHouse of Happy Endingsby Leslie Garis
Synopses & ReviewsPublisher Comments:< div> < div> Howard Garis, creator of the famed Uncle Wiggily series, along with his wife, Lilian, were phenomenally productive writers of popular children& #8217; s series& #8212; including < i> The Bobbsey Twins < /i> and < i> Tom Swift& #8212; < /i> from the turn of the century to the 1950s. In a large, romantic house in Amherst, Massachusetts, Leslie Garis, her two brothers, and their parents and grandparents aimed to live a life that mirrored the idyllic world the elder Garises created nonstop. But inside The Dell& #8212; where Robert Frost often sat in conversation over sherry, and stories appeared to spring from the very air& #8212; all was not right.< /div> < div> & nbsp; < /div> < div> Roger Garis& #8217; s inability to match his parents& #8217; success in his own work as playwright, novelist, and magazine writer led to his conviction that he was a failure as father, husband, and son, and eventually deepened into mental illness characterized by raging mood swings, drug abuse, and bouts of debilitating and destructive depression. < i> House of Happy Endings < /i> is Leslie Garis& #8217; s mesmerizing, tender, and harrowing account of coming of age in a wildly imaginative, loving, but fatally wounded family.< /div> < /div> Review:"'Artfully stitched like a well-made quilt, the patches of Garis's memoir encompass three generations. When she was eight years old, her grandmother Lilian, who wrote the early Bobbsey Twins, and grandfather Howard Garis, who created and virtually became Uncle Wiggily, moved into her family's home in Amherst, Mass. In this spellbinding memoir of green moments and gray ones, Garis chronicles how, in this book-reading, music-playing and, most importantly, loving family of writers, her grandmother 'went from being a vibrant woman to a recumbent recluse' and how the years damaged her father, who 'seemed perfect'; her 'beautiful' mother; and her 'adorable' brothers. 'You can't turn away from the truth because it's lurid and jarring,' her playwright father advises. In lesser hands, the quarrels, litigation and violence that surface might control the narrative, but even as the family copes with disappointment, financial stress, nervous breakdowns, physical illness and death, Garis's capacity for conveying the family's vibrancy and vigor trumps. Garis's remarkable accomplishment in this memoir is to convey the normal, the enviable and the gothic with unsentimentalized affection, grace and painful honesty. (July)' Publishers Weekly (Starred Review) (Copyright Reed Business Information, Inc.)" Synopsis:Garis and his wife, Lilian, were phenomenally productive writers of popular childrens series. But in their seemingly idyllic world, all was not right. This is Gariss mesmerizing, tender, and harrowing account of coming of age in a wildly imaginative, loving, but fatally wounded family. Synopsis:Howard Garis, creator of the famed Uncle Wiggily series, along with his wife, Lilian, were phenomenally productive writers of popular children's series--including The Bobbsey Twins and Tom Swift--from the turn of the century to the 1950s. In a large, romantic house in Amherst, Massachusetts, Leslie Garis, her two brothers, and their parents and grandparents aimed to live a life that mirrored the idyllic world the elder Garises created nonstop. But inside The Dell--where Robert Frost often sat in conversation over sherry, and stories appeared to spring from the very air--all was not right. Roger Garis's inability to match his parents' success in his own work as playwright, novelist, and magazine writer led to his conviction that he was a failure as father, husband, and son, and eventually deepened into mental illness characterized by raging mood swings, drug abuse, and bouts of debilitating and destructive depression. House of Happy Endings is Leslie Garis's mesmerizing, tender, and harrowing account of coming of age in a wildly imaginative, loving, but fatally wounded family. About the AuthorLeslie Garis has written on literary subjects for many national magazines and newspapers. She is best known for New York Times Magazine profiles of such writers as Georges Simenon, Rebecca West, John Fowles, Harold Pinter, Joan Didion, and Susan Sontag. What Our Readers Are SayingBe the first to add a comment for a chance to win!Product Details
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