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My Father's House: A Novella
by
Ben Tanzer (Goodreads Author)
Inspired by The Basketball Diaries, My Father’s House is an homage to the sparse lyricism of Bruce Springsteen and the slamming, punchy storytelling of The Ramones. Both raw and humorous, it is a tale of illness and coping, fathers and sons, and the birth of the writer. It explores compulsions and confusion, and how it is we deal with grief, ghosts and our inability to com...more
Paperback, 0 pages
Published
August 1st 2011
by Main Street Rag
(first published 2011)
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Community Reviews
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Jul 25, 2011
Caleb Ross
rated it
5 of 5 stars
·
review of another edition
Shelves:
arcs,
guilty-by-association
(this review originally appeared at Outsider Writers Collective)
Ben Tanzer, in his sixth book, takes the inherent heartache associated with a cancer struggle and redirects the focus from the sick (a father) to the coping (the son). In this seemingly simple but extremely important reversal Tanzer has crafted a book that simultaneously represents a perfect extension of his own canon while tapping into a previously unexplored sense of extended vulnerability.
Tanzer’s use of monologue to extract emot...more
Ben Tanzer, in his sixth book, takes the inherent heartache associated with a cancer struggle and redirects the focus from the sick (a father) to the coping (the son). In this seemingly simple but extremely important reversal Tanzer has crafted a book that simultaneously represents a perfect extension of his own canon while tapping into a previously unexplored sense of extended vulnerability.
Tanzer’s use of monologue to extract emot...more
I held off on reading this book for a while: having recently experienced the loss of a parent to cancer, I didn't want to either walk into memories of that situation or find that the depiction of such a situation in this book was wanting.
When I finally read the book--and here let me say that my objectivity is clouded because I do consider Ben Tanzer a good friend--I struggled with it at first, which, I think, is what we're supposed to do, just as the central character grapples with the reality o...more
When I finally read the book--and here let me say that my objectivity is clouded because I do consider Ben Tanzer a good friend--I struggled with it at first, which, I think, is what we're supposed to do, just as the central character grapples with the reality o...more
Ben Tanzer has covered a lot of ground since he broke onto the scene with his revolving POV tale of damaged youth coming-of-age, Lucky Man, back in 2007. The author has always tackled the rites of passage associated with male identity in his work, but has broken new ground with My Father's House. The book still carries the pop culture awareness and lively voice of his earlier material, but this time couched in a more introspective character who realizes "you must constantly revisit what you thin...more
I had the good fortune to be able to blurb this book. Here it is:
"The prose of Ben Tanzer's My Father's House is a waterfall, crashing cool onto our fevered heads and then carving pathways straight through to our hearts, never slowing, never shying, laced with the glitter of honesty, fear, and a son's love for his dying father. Despite the torrent, Tanzer shows exemplary control as he brings us into his narrator's swirling mind to explore the black, bottomless pools of all things yet to be exper...more
"The prose of Ben Tanzer's My Father's House is a waterfall, crashing cool onto our fevered heads and then carving pathways straight through to our hearts, never slowing, never shying, laced with the glitter of honesty, fear, and a son's love for his dying father. Despite the torrent, Tanzer shows exemplary control as he brings us into his narrator's swirling mind to explore the black, bottomless pools of all things yet to be exper...more
Once again, Ben Tanzer has found an uncanny ability to get inside my head. At times bordering on self-indulgent, he's somehow able to capture moments in time and distill them to raw emotion. Having lost my father to a car accident (not the same as cancer), I found myself drawn to the themes of relationships, regret, and ultimately freedom that can come from loss. I hated the carelessness of the protagonist when he slept around on his wife and the devotion he gave to his running - seemed a bit ou...more
Oct 19, 2011
Lori
rated it
4 of 5 stars
·
review of another edition
Shelves:
arc-reviewers-copy,
fiction
Read 10/15/11 - 10/19/11
4 Stars - Strongly Recommended (with tissues at hand)
Pgs: 171
Publisher: Main St. Rag
So. You know how I've been reviewing Ben Tanzer's books for awhile now, right? And you know how I think this guy can do no wrong as an author, right? Ok... just so we're clear...
My Father's House is the newest of Ben's books, published this August through Main St. Rag. Dealing heavily with one son's worry, anxiety, and grief over the slow, cancerous death of his father, it was almost too u...more
4 Stars - Strongly Recommended (with tissues at hand)
Pgs: 171
Publisher: Main St. Rag
So. You know how I've been reviewing Ben Tanzer's books for awhile now, right? And you know how I think this guy can do no wrong as an author, right? Ok... just so we're clear...
My Father's House is the newest of Ben's books, published this August through Main St. Rag. Dealing heavily with one son's worry, anxiety, and grief over the slow, cancerous death of his father, it was almost too u...more
As I've mentioned many times here, Ben Tanzer is a great friend of mine, and I make no claim to objectivity when passing along my thoughts on his books. Besides, I am in no way a critic, and my thoughts on books - not just Ben's - are instead those of a fan of literature. Although all of Ben's fiction draws significantly from his own life experiences, his latest effort My Father's House is probably his most personal work yet. In fact, by his own admission, the book began as a memoir which he cou...more
This barely looks like literature, but it is. It's shorter than what its page count lets you believe (171). It's separated in micro-chapters that are one to four pages long. MY FATHER'S HOUSE is the existential struggle and longings of a man who's father dies. While reading it in short burst doesn't make sense, long sittings will carry you through the complexity of his thought process and the evolution of his relationship with his surrounding. It's a little hermetic, but I kinda dug it. Reminded...more
Ben has a way with sharing the confusion that life and awareness bring. It's very direct and very human.
In this book, he has the protagonist carry almost the entire weight of the story. It's a book about relationships, especially the relationship with his dying father, but I felt like I only saw one side of the picture - I didn't get enough of a view of the other characters, whether from their actions or from the protagonist thoughts about their actions, to make them entirely real.
In this book, he has the protagonist carry almost the entire weight of the story. It's a book about relationships, especially the relationship with his dying father, but I felt like I only saw one side of the picture - I didn't get enough of a view of the other characters, whether from their actions or from the protagonist thoughts about their actions, to make them entirely real.
Review here:
http://smallpressreviews.wordpress.co...
http://smallpressreviews.wordpress.co...
Read Tanzer. Cry. Run. Repeat.
Review coming soon at The Nervous Breakdown.
Review coming soon at The Nervous Breakdown.
It changed my life.
I really enjoyed this novella. I felt like it had a different feel to it than other Tanzer writings; a peek behind the curtain, perhaps? I don't know, and I don't want to think about it too much.
read my review here: http://bigother.com/2011/11/14/spitba...
Mr. Tanzer's best work thus far.
Apr 02, 2013
Nancy Seaman wygand
added it
Mar 28, 2013
Heather
marked it as to-read-do-not-own
Nov 07, 2012
anonymous
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Oct 18, 2012
Matt Gardner
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Jul 02, 2012
Shortbutsweet
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Jun 14, 2012
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Apr 15, 2012
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I am the author of the books My Father's House, You Can Make Him Like You, So Different Now and the forthcoming Orphans and Lost in Space, among others. I also oversee day to day operations of This Zine Will Change Your Life and I can be found online at This Blog Will Change Your Life the center of my growing lifestyle empire.
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Nov 03, 2011 05:42pm