Drinking Closer to Home
A Novel
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4.1 • 80 Ratings
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- $13.99
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- $13.99
Publisher Description
“An honest, haunting portrayal of a beguiling, yet maddening family, who together come of age amidst the shifting morals of a country on the cusp of tremendous cultural change. With humor, compassion and a keen insight into the human psyche, Drinking Closer to Home proves that despite the best of intentions, where we come from and where we end up, are even closer than we could ever imagine.” —Robin Antalek, author of The Summer We Fell Apart
“So raw and funny I wanted to read parts aloud to strangers.” —Dylan Landis, author of Normal People Don't Live Like This
From Jessica Anya Blau, critically-acclaimed author of The Summer of Naked Swim Parties and Mary Jane, a coming-of-age novel about growing up and learning to love your insane family. Drinking Close?r to Home is a poignant and funny exploration of one family’s over-the-top eccentricities—a book Ron Tanner calls “heartfelt and hilarious.”
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Blau's second novel (after The Summer of Naked Swim Parties) revolves around a family in crisis after a mother's debilitating heart attack. The troubled adult children of Buzzy and Louise come home to visit their parents on their hippie ranch in Santa Barbara, Cal., "where the days are so sunny you'd swear a nuclear reactor had exploded." Sisters Anna and Portia, and brother Emery, recall the events that led them to their restless present. Emery and his partner, Alejandro, tip-toe around the topic of asking a sister to donate eggs so that they can have a child. During their week-long visit everyone must deal with uncomfortable details about their parents' personal lives, as well as the ghosts of the people they once were, wishing that they could leave their childhood wounds behind once and for all. Blau writes funny, often heartbreaking, and always relatable anecdotes. She aptly describes the family visiting Louise in the hospital: "every day, a moment comes when someone can no longer take sitting in the beeping, stinking room." Blau's lifelike characters are such a joy to get to know that one feels sorry to leave them behind.
Customer Reviews
Another home run!
I was scouring itunes for a book to take with me on vacation when I saw the latest book by Jessica Anya Blau. I had read, and throughly enjoyed, her first book "The Summer of Naked Swim Parties", so of course I bought "Drinnking Closer to Home" and she did not disappoint. This book is a story about a family who comes back together after their mothers heart attack. As most people who return home after being away they are forced to face the past sometimes with laughter and sometimes with sadness. Jessica's unique way of writing weaved a story that brought back memories from my childhood in the 1970's and I was happy to discover that my family was not the only quirky one around. If you want a book to relax with this summer I highly recommend you pick this up.
Weird people…
…and just couldn’t whip up any interest in them.