Walking on Broken Glass: On Broken Glass: Loving and Losing John Gardner [Hardcover]

Product Details

Hardcover: 320 pages
Publisher: Da Capo Press; First edition (October 2000)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0786707747
ISBN-13: 978-0786707744
Product Dimensions: 9.4 x 6.4 x 1.2 inches
Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds

By : Susan Thornton
Price : $3.99

On Broken Glass: Loving and Losing John Gardner [Hardcover]

Customer Reviews

This memoir of John Gardner's final 3 years is a compelling read (partly given that I was his 2nd cousin, his 1st wife:ages 19-43, mother of his two kids). Susan Thornton presents a detailed, fair account of Gardner's descent into alcoholic madness. Poe wrote in one particular of his odd essays that all literature will need to be written to be read in one particular sitting, I discovered that quick to do right here, even although I felt sorrow that such a fine writer, a man I loved for countless years, could be so brutal--mostly directed at himself, even though of course it affected every person in his life. She presents her memories in a truthful voice, although admitting that she has had a longtime drinking history, and she contains his personal false memories lies--even the lies he told her. He did not drink considering that he was a writer or since he could not deal with achievement or failure he drank for the reason that gin gave him the false power to get to the edge of his bizarre, flat universe shed manage with no accepting individual responsibility. It is also sad that there is small evidence of his own writing projects throughout this period. For a writer who worked day night his complete life, he made quite tiny when he was joining his demons. I have no notion if readers who only know his operate will want to descend the mortal spiral of Gardner's last years and finish the book. On the other hand, Susan Thornton has presented this memoir in very good faith, and it is an fascinating work that hides no secrets and presents the end of a life in a riveting, straightforward account.

As a large fan of John Gardner's "Mickelsson's Ghosts," I've wondered exactly where the biographies and memoirs of this larger-than-life figure were hiding. So I was searching forward to Thornton's book. I expected a riveting story just after all, Gardner led the world's most chaotic and colorful life. But Thornton - woo! What a writer! A reader will understand about Gardner, sure. But to contact this a "book about John Gardner" is to do it a disservice. It will need to be a ought to-read for all of those with addictive personalities, for all of those in dysfunctional relationships, for inventive and artistic folks in all fields, and for all spiritual seekers. John Gardner might nicely have been a shaman. Susan Thornton, with this book, has turn into 1 as nicely.