By Blake Bailey
The well known biographer’s unforgettable portrait of a relatives in ruins—his own.
Meet the Baileys: Burck, a wealthy legal professional as soon as voted the yankee Legion’s “Citizen of the 12 months” in his tiny place of birth of Vinita, Oklahoma; his spouse Marlies, who longs to recapture her festive lifestyles in Greenwich Village as a stunning younger German immigrant, clean off the boat; their addled son Scott, who many times crashes the kinfolk Porsche; and Blake, the more youthful son, looking for a fashion in the course of the typhoon. “You’re gonna be similar to me,” a drunken Scott scoffs him. “You’re gonna be worse.”
Winner of the nationwide ebook Critics Circle Award and finalist for the Pulitzer Prize, Blake Bailey has been hailed as “addictively readable” (New York Times) and praised for his skill to seize lives “compellingly and in harrowing aspect” (Time). The wonderful issues We Planned is his darkly humorous account of turning out to be up within the shadow of an erratic and more and more risky brother, a thrilling and occasionally harrowing tale that culminates in a single unforgettable Christmas.
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Extra info for The Splendid Things We Planned: A Family Portrait
Example text
As usual he’d been studying in the bathroom late at night, sitting on the toilet with tissue in his ears, when my mother heard a thunk (his head hitting the sink) and found him passed out in a fetal slump. While he was away at St. Vincent’s, Scott redoubled his efforts to nudge our mother into the abyss—screaming and screaming and screaming as if to berate her for some ineffable crime against humanity. Marlies, in turn, tried frantically to calm him: nursed him with her aching breasts, changed and rechanged his diaper, shushed and cuddled and pleaded with him.
She gave me a look of elaborate disgust, throwing her head back and rolling her eyes. “He’s fourteen years old! ” over her shoulder. I thought I’d get even by telling my father about her little monkey business with Muhammad, but I never did. DURING HIS MIDTEEN years Scott didn’t worry so much about his status in the family because he didn’t have to—he had plenty of distractions. He was more handsome than ever: his face was clear, his hair was still golden blond in the summer, he’d grown a few inches and had better muscle tone than I ever would.
I was aware of people murmuring around me, about me, and I could hardly swallow my food. Finally we adjourned to the playground. I was thinking I’d ask a teacher for permission to go to the bathroom, where I could hide in the stalls until the bell rang, when somebody called my name. It was Brian, surrounded by his smiling, waving friends. Elated, I trotted over. ” said Mark Roach, the funniest kid in school. He pointed at the knobby apex and I nodded. “The first person to touch that thing in the middle wins.
