November 28 2019

The Big House: A Century in the Life of an American Summer Home (2003)

By George Howe Colt

Colt makes a final summer visit to the rambling Cape Cod house that has been a retreat for five generations of his family, but which his extended family, now spread around the country, can no longer afford to maintain and decide to put up for sale.  It's clear that he loves the old place - which has felt more like home than the various year-round locations in which he's lived throughout his childhood and adult years.  [And, of all places, his summer home is on Wing's Neck, a little-known peninsula in Pocasset where my own family spent a couple of memorable summer vacations in a family house much like the one Colt writes about!]

He introduces the reader to the early generations (including some real characters!) of his Boston Brahmin family, then provides a history of Cape Cod.  For much of recent history, living by the sea was not desirable, as the sand was useless for grazing and planting, but by the mid-1800s Bostonians wanted to get out of the crowded cities and started buying up seaside lots.  By 1902, Wing's Neck was one of the few undeveloped areas of Cape Cod; the author's great-grandfather Ned Atkinson joined a group of 12 Bostonians who bought up the whole neck (for $83,450), dividing it among themselves, and selling smaller leftover parcels to like-minded friends.  [And, when we were summering in our rented house, we indeed came across a directory of Association members, many still based near Boston.  But in a recent Zillow search, I also found parcels of land for sail on Wing's Neck, so it looks like those large properties of a century ago are a luxury most vacation home-owners no longer want (or can afford) to maintain.]

The author fondly recalls sailboat races and summer-long tennis tournaments. As this final summer in the Big House starts to wind down, he reflects on some of the events and realities that changed his perception of the perfect summers he enjoyed as a boy.  One was the early death (from leukemia) of his Aunt Sandy (his father's youngest sibling).  Another was the on-again/off-again mental illness of his beloved grandmother.  But perhaps the most revealing was his gradual realization that his family was not so admirable; they were Boston Brahmins who, though no longer weather, seemed to consider themselves above others, they were insular, resistant to change.  But in the end, his own generation is forced to make changes.   The author's parents, whose marriage is teetering mainly from his father's long business trips and lack of involvement, seek counseling and restore their marriage.  Their generation form a kind of corp and put the Big House on the market.  But after several years of no bids, the author's cousin Forbes and her husband David decide to buy and renovate the house.  This unexpected development breathes new life into a much loved retreat, keeps the house in George's extended family (and where George, his wife, and their children will continue to vacation at the old chauffeur's cottage), and positioning it for its next century.  Wonderfully written!

November 15 2019

The Memory Keeper's Daughter (2005)
By Kim Edwards

Novelist Kim Edwards relates how her pastor shared an account of a man who'd discovered, late in life, that his brother had been born with Down's Syndrome, placed in an institution at birth, and kept a secret from his family, even from his own mother, all his life.  He'd died in the institution, unknown.  Edwards considered how this could happen and has crafted a compelling novel.

Her description of the story follows:

"It is 1964 in Lexington, KY and a rare and sudden winter storm has blanketed the area with snow.  The roads are dangerous, yet Dr David Henry is determined to get his wife Norah to the hospital in time to deliver their first child.  But...the roads are treacherous and he stops at his medical clinic instead.  There, with help from his nurse Caroline, he safely delivers their son Paul.  But unexpectedly, Norah delivers a second child, a girl, in which David immediately recognizes the signs of Down's Syndrome.

"David is a decent but secretive man - he has shared his difficult past with no one, not even is wife - about growing up in a poor, uneducated family and the death of a beloved sister whose heart defect claimed her at the age of 12.  The painful memories of the past and the difficult circumstances of the present intersect to create a crisis, one his which his overriding concern is to spare his beloved Norah what he sees as a life of grief.  He hands the baby girl over to Caroline, along with the address of a home to which he wants her taken, not imagining beyond the moment, or anticipating that his actions will serve to destroy the very things he wishes to protect.  Then he turns to Norah, telling her 'our little daughter died as she was born.'

"From that moment forward, two families begin their new, and separate, lives.  Caroline takes Phoebe to the institution but cannot bear to leave her there.  Thirty-one, unmarried, and secretly in love with David, Caroline has always been a dreamer, waiting for real life to begin.  Now when she makes her own split-second decision to keep and raise Phoebe aa her own, she feels as if it finally has.

"As Paul grows to adulthood, Norah and David grow more and more distant.  Norah, always haunted by the daughter she lost, takes a job that becomes all consuming and seeks the intimacy that eludes her with David through a series of affairs.  Feeling as if he's a disappointment to his father, Paul is angry and finds his only release through music.  David, tormented by his secret, looks for solace through the lens of his camera, the 'Memory Keeper', trying to make sense of life through the images he captures."

Sometimes we make sudden decisions that affect the rest of our lives.  That was the case when Paul handed over his baby daughter.

November 6 2019

The Gifted School (2019)
By Bruce Holsinger

If any parents needed a reason NOT to enroll their child in a public school for gifted students, this book would be it!  Four women (and their respective husbands) have been close friends since their children (now 11) were babies in a swimming class in their tony Colorado suburb.  When news gets out that their school system is planning to open a new middle and high school for the most gifted 1% of students in their county, all of the parents are keen to get their bright kids admitted.   Admission is by test and a portfolio exhibiting their applicant's exceptional ability in a specific area.  As with many such communities, it is the parents who stage the competition while their kids barely seem to care.  Decade-old friendships are under siege and secrets are exposed as the race is on.  One of the 11-year-olds has an older sister who posts a video blog (which she is unaware has gone public) with some very comprising information about all of the families (she babysits for all of them), while her younger brother (who is mathematically bright but socially challenged) puts together a portfolio containing startling, hurtful information.

This fairly lengthy book (452 pp) is loaded with vignettes that entertain as they typify wealthy Americans and their obsession to live their lives through their children.  It's fair to assume that these parents likely regretted the day they signed up their children to compete for placement in the gifted school, and one outcome is that their relationships are forever changed.  As for their kids, it was fun to see who, if any, of the children would gain admittance in this humorous, yet poignant, modern novel.