From Publishers Weekly
Tolstoy's observation that every unhappy family is unhappy in its own way finds resonance in this collection of essays and stories about families, predominantly miserable ones, culled from the British literary magazine Granta, some of which became parts of recent books. Certain of the more interesting selections attest to strained relations between parents and children. Raymond Carver writes about the poverty and alcoholism that defeated his father; Doris Lessing tells of the bitterness that her birth caused her mother. Physical abuse makes for particularly compelling copy: Mikal Gilmore, whose piece about his brother, executed murderer Gary Gilmore, became a section in Shot in the Heart, profoundly explicates the effect of their father's violence on their family; in the most riveting entry, journalist Beverly Lowry links the sadism of an Oklahoma man with his murder by his two young sons. Nearly all the selections deal with mortality and the intense family feeling it provokes: "Don't underestimate filial grief," writes Blake Morrison in a homage to his emotionally unreliable father. Among the other contributors are Saul Bellow, Geoffrey Wolff, Leonard Michaels, Angela Carter, Louise Erdrich, Mona Simpson and Bret Easton Ellis. Overall, this is a fine collection. Copyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc.
Granta Book of the Family ANNOTATION
Over the past 15 years, Granta has published fiction, memoir, biography, and reportage inspired by the relationships forced on us by the accident of birth. From Saul Bellow's tale of his immigrant parents to Bret Easton Ellis' chilling description of a Hollywood marriage, the best and, at times, the most disturbing are collected here in this noteworthy collection.
FROM THE PUBLISHER
Over the past fifteen years, Granta has published fiction, memoir, biography, and reportage inspired by the relationship forced on us by birth. The best, and at times most disturbing, pieces are gathered in The Granta Book of the Family.
FROM THE CRITICS
(London) Financial Times
Strange things, families. . . . This is the main reason, apart from the quality of the contributors, for the excellence of Granta's Book of the Family: Twenty-two pieces of memoir and reportage. . . and not a dud among them.
Publishers Weekly
Tolstoy's observation that every unhappy family is unhappy in its own way finds resonance in this collection of essays and stories about families, predominantly miserable ones, culled from the British literary magazine Granta, some of which became parts of recent books. Certain of the more interesting selections attest to strained relations between parents and children. Raymond Carver writes about the poverty and alcoholism that defeated his father; Doris Lessing tells of the bitterness that her birth caused her mother. Physical abuse makes for particularly compelling copy: Mikal Gilmore, whose piece about his brother, executed murderer Gary Gilmore, became a section in Shot in the Heart, profoundly explicates the effect of their father's violence on their family; in the most riveting entry, journalist Beverly Lowry links the sadism of an Oklahoma man with his murder by his two young sons. Nearly all the selections deal with mortality and the intense family feeling it provokes: ``Don't underestimate filial grief,'' writes Blake Morrison in a homage to his emotionally unreliable father. Among the other contributors are Saul Bellow, Geoffrey Wolff, Leonard Michaels, Angela Carter, Louise Erdrich, Mona Simpson and Bret Easton Ellis. Overall, this is a fine collection. (Sept.)
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