Synopses & Reviews
The fascinating true story of Peter von Ziegesar's life of privilege mirrored by that of his half-brother of the same name, a homeless schizophrenic man and former violin prodigy
Peter Von Ziegesar grew up in the shadow of luxury. His father worked for a financial printing company and they lived a comfortable life in New Canaan, Connecticut. His mother, however, was a member of one of the gilded age families—the Davisons. Ensconced in several houses, Peters maternal clan populated Peacock Point, one of the most exquisite enclaves of wealth and power. Summers were filled with the glistening water of the Long Island Sound, pristine beaches, croquet games, butlers in formal wear serving dinners and an endless stream of cocktails. After a string of affairs, Peter's father left his wife and remarried. The idyll of Peacock Point was tarnished, but Peters life took an unexpected twist. When his father remarried, his new wife came with children, one—a younger boy—also named Peter. Little Peter was a violin prodigy expected to become the next Paderewski. But as Little Peter grew, he became more reckless and divorced from reality until he was diagnosed a schizophrenic and began to live as a homeless person. The Looking Glass Brother is Peter von Ziegesars memoir of an early life lived in luxury and an adulthood spent looking after a wholly different brother of the same name. Woven through this remarkable memoir are memories of Peters father, his experience of fatherhood, luxurious scenes from Peacock Point and the care he now gives to Little Peter, whenever he drifts in or out of his life.
Review
“The Looking Glass Brother is an engaging story of loyalty, love and a search for reconciliation between two brothers and an indifferent and often-callous father. Packed with the intimacies of an old-monied family, the story moves between the family's wealthy preserve on Long Island Sound and the grubby drug streets of New York City in the 1970s and 80s. It is a candid and personal story that seeks to show and understand the forces that both tear apart and draw together a father and his two sons, even as all three wrestle with their personal demons.”—Lou Ureneck, author of Backcast: Fatherhood, Fly Fishing and a River Journey Through the Heart of Alaska (National Outdoor Book Award Winner) and Cabin: Two Brothers, a Dream and Five Acres in Maine
Review
“Von Ziegesars cinematic eye and exceptional fluency in diverse perspectives make him an adventurously empathic biographer and audaciously candid memoirist in this piercing, thought-provoking portrait of a many-branched American family and a “looking glass” brother who reflects so many of lifes most plangent mysteries.”—Booklist
“Brotherly love is evident here, while drugs, lavish estates, suicide, divorce, philandering, and the back drop of NYC round out a touching inside view of comfort and homelessness.”—Publishers Weekly, Starred Review
“In a memorable memoir reflecting identity, von Ziegesar tells of his stepbrothers wounds, both psychic and grievously physical, occasionally with fraternal irascibility and more frequently with candid understanding…The talented writer snares readers throughout.”—Kirkus Reviews
“This provocative looking-glass tale of two nonconformist brothers, one thriving within a nurturing family circle, the other a perpetual outsider because of mental illness, shines with emotional veracity, sensory precision, cosmic absurdity, all kinds of pain and steadfast love.”—Kansas City Star
“Elegantly constructed and written with both stringency and heart, The Looking Glass Brother fluently braids memories of an ultraprivileged childhood and the bleak realities of mental illness, substance abuse, and homelessness today. Von Ziegesar has the gift for creating rounded characters, and the brother of the title comes alive as a figure of compelling, if heartbreaking, paradox, while the portrait of the clueless father is the most vivid of its kind Ive read since This Boys Life.”—Eli Gottlieb, author of The Boy Who Went Away and The Face Thief
“The Looking Glass Brother is an engaging story of loyalty, love and a search for reconciliation between two brothers and an indifferent and often-callous father. Packed with the intimacies of an old-monied family, the story moves between the family's wealthy preserve on Long Island Sound and the grubby drug streets of New York City in the 1990s. It is a candid and personal story that seeks to show and understand the forces that both tear apart and draw together a father and his two sons, even as all three wrestle with their personal demons.”—Lou Ureneck, author of Backcast: Fatherhood, Fly Fishing and a River Journey Through the Heart of Alaska (National Outdoor Book Award Winner) and Cabin: Two Brothers, a Dream and Five Acres in Maine
"There's so much to admire about von Ziegesar's writing. Perhaps most resonant is his unique lyrical voice, both brave and loving as he retells a dark, very personal story."—Stephanie LaCava, author of An Extraordinary Theory of Objects: A Memoir of an Outsider in Paris
Review
“Brotherly love is evident here, while drugs, lavish estates, suicide, divorce, philandering, and the backdrop of [New York City] round out a touching inside view of comfort and homelessness.”—
Publishers Weekly (starred review)
“This provocative looking-glass tale of two nonconformist brothers, one thriving within a nurturing family circle, the other a perpetual outsider because of mental illness, shines with emotional veracity, sensory precision, cosmic absurdity, all kinds of pain, and steadfast love.”—The Kansas City Star
“Elegantly constructed and written with both stringency and heart, The Looking Glass Brother fluently braids memories of an ultraprivileged childhood and the bleak realities of mental illness, substance abuse, and homelessness today.”—Eli Gottlieb, author of The Boy Who Went Away and The Face Thief
Synopsis
Peter von Ziegesar had just moved to New York and was awaiting the birth of his first child when a dark shape stepped from the looking glass of his past onto a Greenwich Village street.
The Looking Glass Brother is Peter von Ziegesars remarkable memoir of a life that began in the exquisite enclaves of Long Islands Gilded Age families and is now lived, in part, as the keeper of his homeless and schizophrenic stepbrother, Little Peter.
The Looking Glass Brother is a feast of memories from one of the last, great estates on Long Islands Peacock Point. Summers were filled with the glistening water of the Long Island Sound, pristine beaches, croquet games, butlers in formal wear serving dinners, and an endless stream of cocktails. When, after a string of affairs, Peters father left his mother and remarried, the idyll was broken and several stepchildren, including Little Peter, entered von Ziegesars life. Little Peter was an angelic and brilliant young boy, a violin prodigy called by a teacher “the next Paganini,” who spiraled down during adolescence to become one more homeless man living on the street. In this bighearted memoir, Peter von Ziegesar mixes memories of life on Peacock Point with the turbulent joys of urban fatherhood and the responsibility he feels for his brother, a man with the same name as his, but who lives a desperate and very different life.
About the Author
PETER VON ZIEGESAR a New York-based filmmaker and screenwriter. He has written articles, essays and reviews on film and art for many national publications, including DoubleTake, The New York Times, The New York Times Magazine, Outside, and Art in America. His short fiction won a PEN Syndicated Fiction Prize. His work as a film and multimedia artist has received national attention, including a solo exhibition at the Hirschhorn Museum of Art in Washington, D.C. He lives in New York City.