[.ca] The Big House: A Century in the Life of an American ... (ISBN 0684845172)

When They Summered in America:
Built by the author's great-grandfather 100 years ago on a peninsula stretching out into Buzzards Bay from Cape Cod, the big house is a landmark. The four-story, 19-room jumble of roof lines, gables, bays and dormers is the emotional home and the center of gravity for the Colt family through the 20th century. The big house is a wonderful place. Anyone who ever understood the use of the word "summer" as a verb can feel the emotions, smell the smells, hear the creaks in the floors and appreciate the melancholy of the fading glory of this monument to family, local history and old New England aristocracy. The big house silently presided over five weddings, four divorces and three deaths. There were countless anniversaries, reunions, birthdays, nervous breakdowns, conceptions and love affairs. Author George Colt blends humor and affection as he describes the rise and fall of the significance of his family's social class while saluting his ancestors' deliberate manner and their deep-seated pleasure found in this place at the shore. For a century everyone returned and worshipped the familiar. It was an unchanging place in a changing world. It was sanctuary for 100 years. But even the best summers come to an end, and people must move on. The context for this memoir is Colt's pilgrimage to the big house with his own wife and children as his extended family comes to grips with the impossible task of maintaining or renovating the old house in a time when "new money," sterile architecture and thoughtless development are the norm. The big house is being sold. Colt's book is a gift to anyone with memories centering around a family place and the legends of parents, grandparents and great-grandparents who went there before. Reviewed by Carroll Colby and the North Star Monthly, Danville VT

Rings true:
What struck me reading other reviews was that people from around the U.S. and even one from Europe bothered to read it. I figured the reviews would be more along the lines of the bored reader from NYC. I thought the material was the kind only a small regional press might publish, if not the author himself privately for the benefit of a limited readership--mainly the people in the book. Which is all the more reason to celebrate the literary accomplishment achieved here. It is a subject matter that could easily have fallen flat on its face with anything less than the sensitivity and creativity with which Mr. Colt treats it. He pulls thoughtful meaning and associations out of past incidents and instances that for most of us are memories we retain for reasons we may not fully understand. Mr. Colt explains why such memories endure--their attachments to context and their contribution to the person they helped form. It makes me happy that such a story can have a mass appeal, since I am familiar with Wings Neck and some of its people. The story about the Colts, Atkinsons, etc. is played out in other coastal towns and alongside lakes and in mountains and valleys across America and beyond, wherever long-surviving family manses hold the history of generations. This one rings true.

Memories and more:
If you enjoyed Jackson McCrae's BARK OF THE DOGWOOD or Baldacci's WISH YOU WELL, then you'll like this book. It's so moving and full of life--so heart-warming and touching. Full of memories and feelings that seems to spring to the surface, you'll never find yourself "having" to finish it. As a matter of fact, it's one of those "I hated for it to end" books. Do yourself a favor and read this one. Also recommended: BARK OF THE DOGWOOD and WISH YOU WELL

Like walking through a dream....:
This book is incredible. I feel like I am reliving my childhood which is a bit odd because my childhood would have decidedly been on the other side of the tracks from the author's. My grandmother, in fact, was one of those large, warm, cuddly Irish women who worked for families like the Colts and Atkinsons. Until her death she received loving cards and letters from the children that she cared for (reading some of the names in this book, I believe they might be cousins). To me, this narrative transcends the class structure of the 60's in the US. Times have changed, my best friend is from one of those WASP families and 70 years ago our paths never would have crossed. The author tells his story and his family's story in a way that makes me feel he is telling the story of us all. This book made me sad and elated at the same time. I think deep down, people are more alike than different.

Beyond Boring:
This is probably the most boring, superficial, self-serving book I've read in years. Its title should really be WHO CARES? because that really sums up this tedious, endless tale of a family you don't really care about after 327 pages, mainly because they're all so uninteresting, or at least he makes them that way. And who cares about the details of selling this ridiculous house? Not to mention that the author is so consumed with his WASP roots that he doesn't let you forget for one minute who his family is and has the nerve to pretend not to care. The word WASP appears on almost every page. Ever read a book by a catholic where the word CATHOLIC is always capitalized? How about JEW? This book should have been published by a vanity press. Sorry to say but the author is not a good writer, even though he is a WASP!! (Harvard-educated)