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The Redemption of George Baxter Henry
George Baxter Henry is having an affair and has been found out by his mother-in-law, Muriel; a ninety-oneyear-old former silent screen star who now can't keep her mouth shut! With a son (Billy) who is being wooed by a record company, and a daughter (Iska) who is writing a book about apples, the Henry family decamp to a village in France to sort themselves out.
George and his wife Pearl both want to save their marriage, but for different reasons. Billy sees the world through cocaine-tinted eyelids. Iska is growing up and discovering other fruit. Muriel is sharp and bitter and seems reluctant to get to the great cinema in the sky.
In the background lurk the shadows of George's further infidelities, and distant lineage leading to Graceland. Up front it's a battleground; where the weapons of choice are vitriol, one-liners and old age. The spoils of war are sanity, and redemption!
138 pages, Hardcover
First published August 1, 2011
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Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews
July 1, 2011
George Baxter Henry is no paragon of virtue. In fact, he is a paradigm of vice, with a penchant for lustful young women. His marriage is on the rocks and his fractured family is falling apart. Connor Bowman's novella after The Last Estate takes us back to the South of France--this time Nice, but with an American protagonist. In this sinfully laugh out loud story about a wounded family trying to stitch itself back together, Bowman manages to make the reader care about these cross and querulous individuals who are headed on a grease skid to oblivion.
George is a fifty-one-year-old trial-phobic attorney in Boston. His vitriolic ninety-one-year-old mother-in-law, Muriel, hired a snoop, who captured George in a Kodak moment in flagrante delicto, and now Muriel is trying to convince George's wife, Pearl, to divorce him. Seventeen-year-old rock musician, Billy, needs dad's consent to a big record deal offer from Carnivore records, but George won't do it until Billy's urine is clean for a month; he snorts cocaine like kids eat Cheerios. Fourteen-year-old daughter, Iska, is researching apples for a book she wants to write, and is on the brink of new discoveries.
George sequesters the family away to a rented chateau in bucolic Nice, hoping to save his marriage, his son, and his finances from ruin. Pearl is open to reconciliation, but Muriel, his nemesis, is determined to interfere. A former screen star of the twenties and thirties, Muriel Hale née Meek is an italicized battle-axe who George derides as "about as meek as a Panzer division." She never lets anyone forget her averred fame and one-time Oscar nom, flashing celebrity names like rhinestones on an Elvis cape.
George executes his own private rehab for Billy--he locks him in his room, while trying to repair the fault lines in his marriage, which has had a half-decade sexual drought. Every step of repair between Pearl and George is a lure for sabotage by Muriel. "If you'd listened to me all those years ago, you'd have married somebody suitable instead of scraping the barrel for an engagement ring and a time-share in George's pecker."
George starts playing boules with some locals he encounters during daily solitary walks, and also meets an Elvis-obsessed French pastry chef with a hot oven, big cupcakes, and porn-star moves. Salvation is laced with cream pie.
George's perspective on life volleys between mockery and scorn, with a generous dose of self-effacement to lend a measure of vulnerability to his cynicism.
"Children are the single greatest drain on the world's finances after global warming and oil slick clean-up costs...As far as they're [children] concerned, it's win, win, win. They didn't ask to be born, so you pay for that. You want the best for them, so you pay for that, and best of all, they hate you and you want them to love you, so you pay for that, too. Stick a dunce hat on me and call me Chase Manhattan!"
The avaricious tension between Muriel and George keeps the zingers fresh and lively.
"To get a clear picture of my precious mother-in-law in your head, think Godzilla meets Margaret Thatcher and they have a child."
As the narrative glides like a combat missile, the reader is installed in George's personal battle of a lifetime--a self-propelled mission to redeem himself and his family. There's a bit of a dues ex machina, but it comes with a wink and a wallop that will have you cheering for his redemption.
“Dad, do you think dogs go to heaven?”
“You mean what will happen to Grandma when she dies?”
My review can be seen on mostlyfiction.com http://bookreview.mostlyfiction.com/2...
George is a fifty-one-year-old trial-phobic attorney in Boston. His vitriolic ninety-one-year-old mother-in-law, Muriel, hired a snoop, who captured George in a Kodak moment in flagrante delicto, and now Muriel is trying to convince George's wife, Pearl, to divorce him. Seventeen-year-old rock musician, Billy, needs dad's consent to a big record deal offer from Carnivore records, but George won't do it until Billy's urine is clean for a month; he snorts cocaine like kids eat Cheerios. Fourteen-year-old daughter, Iska, is researching apples for a book she wants to write, and is on the brink of new discoveries.
George sequesters the family away to a rented chateau in bucolic Nice, hoping to save his marriage, his son, and his finances from ruin. Pearl is open to reconciliation, but Muriel, his nemesis, is determined to interfere. A former screen star of the twenties and thirties, Muriel Hale née Meek is an italicized battle-axe who George derides as "about as meek as a Panzer division." She never lets anyone forget her averred fame and one-time Oscar nom, flashing celebrity names like rhinestones on an Elvis cape.
George executes his own private rehab for Billy--he locks him in his room, while trying to repair the fault lines in his marriage, which has had a half-decade sexual drought. Every step of repair between Pearl and George is a lure for sabotage by Muriel. "If you'd listened to me all those years ago, you'd have married somebody suitable instead of scraping the barrel for an engagement ring and a time-share in George's pecker."
George starts playing boules with some locals he encounters during daily solitary walks, and also meets an Elvis-obsessed French pastry chef with a hot oven, big cupcakes, and porn-star moves. Salvation is laced with cream pie.
George's perspective on life volleys between mockery and scorn, with a generous dose of self-effacement to lend a measure of vulnerability to his cynicism.
"Children are the single greatest drain on the world's finances after global warming and oil slick clean-up costs...As far as they're [children] concerned, it's win, win, win. They didn't ask to be born, so you pay for that. You want the best for them, so you pay for that, and best of all, they hate you and you want them to love you, so you pay for that, too. Stick a dunce hat on me and call me Chase Manhattan!"
The avaricious tension between Muriel and George keeps the zingers fresh and lively.
"To get a clear picture of my precious mother-in-law in your head, think Godzilla meets Margaret Thatcher and they have a child."
As the narrative glides like a combat missile, the reader is installed in George's personal battle of a lifetime--a self-propelled mission to redeem himself and his family. There's a bit of a dues ex machina, but it comes with a wink and a wallop that will have you cheering for his redemption.
“Dad, do you think dogs go to heaven?”
“You mean what will happen to Grandma when she dies?”
My review can be seen on mostlyfiction.com http://bookreview.mostlyfiction.com/2...
July 14, 2011
George Baxter Henry, GBH, is a lawyer, and while he’s arrogant and unlikeable on the surface, he makes a surprisingly personable narrator for this tale. Even while he pours his vitriol on other members of his family, there’s sharply drawn humor, an honest measuring of his own failings, and a deep, unexpected sympathy that makes Conor Bowmans’ second novel especially moving.
Henry has been caught by his silent-screen-star, can’t-close-her-mouth mother-in-law, in the betrayal of his marriage vows. Now, to save said marriage (and the firm) he’s off to France for some serious family time. With mother-in-law, drug-addicted son, and teenaged daughter in tow, it’s not quite the romantic interlude the doctor (or hilariously inept marriage counselor) might have ordered. Likewise,it’s not just GBH that needs to be redeemed.
The family relationships are both tragic and fun as both sister and brother begin to grow up and find unexpectedly wise friendship from their father. Mother-in-law remains as sharp and vicious as might be expected, while wife Pearl has to believe in herself before she can believe in her future.
Of course, there are lots of different deceptions and lots of different addictions to be explored; sometime the two are hard to separate. Billy and his father are not the only ones with lessons to learn, and Billy’s not the only one not to realize how much he risks. By the end of the novel, all the reader’s preconceptions are turned on their head. The wise are as foolish as fools, and the fools are salvageable as the wise. The whole is almost as much a story of parents’ coming-of-age as of their children, making it a deeply evocative novel, not just of the French countryside, but also of family relationships and hope. GBH’s cleverness might save his family in more ways than one, and the reader will follow his narration, enthralled and intrigued, to the very last page.
Disclosure: I received a bound galley of this book from the publishers in exchange for an honest review
Henry has been caught by his silent-screen-star, can’t-close-her-mouth mother-in-law, in the betrayal of his marriage vows. Now, to save said marriage (and the firm) he’s off to France for some serious family time. With mother-in-law, drug-addicted son, and teenaged daughter in tow, it’s not quite the romantic interlude the doctor (or hilariously inept marriage counselor) might have ordered. Likewise,it’s not just GBH that needs to be redeemed.
The family relationships are both tragic and fun as both sister and brother begin to grow up and find unexpectedly wise friendship from their father. Mother-in-law remains as sharp and vicious as might be expected, while wife Pearl has to believe in herself before she can believe in her future.
Of course, there are lots of different deceptions and lots of different addictions to be explored; sometime the two are hard to separate. Billy and his father are not the only ones with lessons to learn, and Billy’s not the only one not to realize how much he risks. By the end of the novel, all the reader’s preconceptions are turned on their head. The wise are as foolish as fools, and the fools are salvageable as the wise. The whole is almost as much a story of parents’ coming-of-age as of their children, making it a deeply evocative novel, not just of the French countryside, but also of family relationships and hope. GBH’s cleverness might save his family in more ways than one, and the reader will follow his narration, enthralled and intrigued, to the very last page.
Disclosure: I received a bound galley of this book from the publishers in exchange for an honest review
April 3, 2013
By Conor Bowman
The Permanent Press 140 pgs
ISBN: 978-1-57962-220-6
Submitted by The Permanent Press
Rating: 3.5
re-demp-tion [re demp shuh`n] noun
1. an act of redeeming or the state of being redeemed.
2. deliverance; rescue.
3. Theology . deliverance from sin; salvation.
4. atonement for guilt.
5. repurchase, as of something sold.
George Baxter Henry is a middle-aged attorney from Boston. He is married to Pearl. Their college-age son Billy is in a band being wooed by record companies. Iska is their 14-year-old daughter. Muriel is Pearl's mother. The entire family is on vacation in a small village in France.
OK, now try this. George is having an affair. Pearl is mostly clueless. Billy is a cocaine addict. Iska is obsessed with apples. Muriel, who discovered George's paramour, hates him. The entire family is on vacation in a small village in France for some bonding in an attempt to save themselves from themselves and each other.
It was refreshing to see an author treat this material as a farce. After all, with this material, Mr. Bowman could have chosen to write just another teleplay for Lifetime. George is not a sympathetic character but he is the center of attention, so you have to put up with him. In fact he's fairly appalling but he is an original voice, often hilarious, and offers no apologies. He is who he is. This book tells the story of how his family learns to put up with him. In the spirit of farce all issues are resolved by the conclusion of this novel, one way or another, and tied up in a neat package.
This book puts me in mind of second chances. Because that's what redemption gives you, right? A second chance.
Check out The Permanent Press for other offerings: http://www.thepermanentpress.com/
P.S. I loved Iska and the apples
The Permanent Press 140 pgs
ISBN: 978-1-57962-220-6
Submitted by The Permanent Press
Rating: 3.5
re-demp-tion [re demp shuh`n] noun
1. an act of redeeming or the state of being redeemed.
2. deliverance; rescue.
3. Theology . deliverance from sin; salvation.
4. atonement for guilt.
5. repurchase, as of something sold.
George Baxter Henry is a middle-aged attorney from Boston. He is married to Pearl. Their college-age son Billy is in a band being wooed by record companies. Iska is their 14-year-old daughter. Muriel is Pearl's mother. The entire family is on vacation in a small village in France.
OK, now try this. George is having an affair. Pearl is mostly clueless. Billy is a cocaine addict. Iska is obsessed with apples. Muriel, who discovered George's paramour, hates him. The entire family is on vacation in a small village in France for some bonding in an attempt to save themselves from themselves and each other.
It was refreshing to see an author treat this material as a farce. After all, with this material, Mr. Bowman could have chosen to write just another teleplay for Lifetime. George is not a sympathetic character but he is the center of attention, so you have to put up with him. In fact he's fairly appalling but he is an original voice, often hilarious, and offers no apologies. He is who he is. This book tells the story of how his family learns to put up with him. In the spirit of farce all issues are resolved by the conclusion of this novel, one way or another, and tied up in a neat package.
This book puts me in mind of second chances. Because that's what redemption gives you, right? A second chance.
Check out The Permanent Press for other offerings: http://www.thepermanentpress.com/
P.S. I loved Iska and the apples
June 15, 2011
George Baxter Henry, his wife, Paula, his cocaine-addicted son, Billy, his "slow" daughter, Iska, and his mother-in-law, Muriel, are on a flight to France for a vacation. Billy is nineteen and is trying to become a rock star, has contracts ready to be signed, but needs his father to do that because of his age.
Iska is intent on writing a book about apples. Muriel is ever-present with her history of having been an Oscar-winning actress and her utter dislike for George.
The trip has been planned because George has been discovered having an affair. This was a way for him and Paula to try to work things out. George has much to lose if a divorce happens. It would mean the loss of his law firm.
Muriel would like nothing more than for Paula and George to divorce. There has never been much "like" between the two.
George is bent on getting Billy cured of his addiction and proceeds to do just that. Iska continues to discover all that she can about apples and leaves notes for her father about her findings. Muriel continues to heckle George constantly and George and Paula are slowly working their marriage out.
George is really not the most likeable guy in the world. His affair at home is bad enough, but things that happen in France really made me dislike him more.
In the end, it is really your own opinion whether he has earned a redemption or not.
This is good writing, with some very funny situations and comments. George is a character that keeps you interested. Whatever your opinion is of George Baxter Henry, you will probably really have to think about it after you have finished the book.
Iska is intent on writing a book about apples. Muriel is ever-present with her history of having been an Oscar-winning actress and her utter dislike for George.
The trip has been planned because George has been discovered having an affair. This was a way for him and Paula to try to work things out. George has much to lose if a divorce happens. It would mean the loss of his law firm.
Muriel would like nothing more than for Paula and George to divorce. There has never been much "like" between the two.
George is bent on getting Billy cured of his addiction and proceeds to do just that. Iska continues to discover all that she can about apples and leaves notes for her father about her findings. Muriel continues to heckle George constantly and George and Paula are slowly working their marriage out.
George is really not the most likeable guy in the world. His affair at home is bad enough, but things that happen in France really made me dislike him more.
In the end, it is really your own opinion whether he has earned a redemption or not.
This is good writing, with some very funny situations and comments. George is a character that keeps you interested. Whatever your opinion is of George Baxter Henry, you will probably really have to think about it after you have finished the book.
April 4, 2015
A well-written novel doesn’t always have to have a likable character. George Baxter Henry in The Redemption of George Baxter Henry is one of those guys who’s deceptive, arrogant, selfish, sexist and manipulative. The Henry family travels to France for several months when George’s wife, Muriel, discovers he’s been cheating on her.
People say marriage isn’t all roses, but I’d got further and say it’s mostly bills and parent/teacher meetings with a little pasta and misunderstanding thrown in.
For George, he must remain married to maintain his lucrative law practice (his mother-in-law bought in to the practice and his wife would end up owning a large portion of it if they divorce). The 90-year-old mother-in-law once worked as an actress in that classic bygone film-star era. Teenage daughter Iska leaves her father notes each day containing a fact she’s learned in her research for a book about apples. Older son Billy wants to be rich and famous with his band. He has no plans for college and a major label appears poised to sign his band.
Author Conor Bowman uses first person narrative to tell this fast-paced story. George balances fatherhood, his wife and a new paramour in the South of France in his self-serving, opinionated manner. And why not be when you’re wealthy and can get away with it? Does George find redemption in France? Depends on how you look at it. Bowman spins a bittersweet, amusing, offensive and fast-paced story about one seriously dysfunctional guy and his long-suffering family.
People say marriage isn’t all roses, but I’d got further and say it’s mostly bills and parent/teacher meetings with a little pasta and misunderstanding thrown in.
For George, he must remain married to maintain his lucrative law practice (his mother-in-law bought in to the practice and his wife would end up owning a large portion of it if they divorce). The 90-year-old mother-in-law once worked as an actress in that classic bygone film-star era. Teenage daughter Iska leaves her father notes each day containing a fact she’s learned in her research for a book about apples. Older son Billy wants to be rich and famous with his band. He has no plans for college and a major label appears poised to sign his band.
Author Conor Bowman uses first person narrative to tell this fast-paced story. George balances fatherhood, his wife and a new paramour in the South of France in his self-serving, opinionated manner. And why not be when you’re wealthy and can get away with it? Does George find redemption in France? Depends on how you look at it. Bowman spins a bittersweet, amusing, offensive and fast-paced story about one seriously dysfunctional guy and his long-suffering family.
July 1, 2011
I won this on Goodreads. This book cracked me up! Though George Baxter Henry has the mouth of a sailor and is quite sarcastic (especially when speaking to his Mother-in-Law Muriel), he is quite humorous in his thoughts. The story starts off with Billy's (Henry's son) head literally in a toilet bowl. You soon find out that Billy is addicted to cocaine. Iska is writing a book about apples. Henry's marriage is falling apart because Muriel hired a private investigator and caught Henry cheating on his wife. Sounds like a dysfunctional family, am I right? Muriel states that Henry has two options, get a divorce or go to counseling. Henry and Pearl go to counseling, each having their own reasons, and after paying $8,000 to a psychiatrist, they go to France for a six week vacation that changes their lives. Brilliantly written and quite humorous to boot!
July 6, 2011
I loved the book. I could not put it down. The struggles of the family members are classic. There is a classic middle age crisis in which the lesson is that only you can find happiness.
George, is an unfaithful husband. Pearl, is wife, is the caregiver of the family. Billy the oldest child has a drug problem and is straigtened out by George while in France. Iska is a teenage author. Muriel is the ever overbearing mother in law who refuses to die. That is until the plane ride home.
I have recieved this book free of charge from Goodreads.com giveaway and am in no way obligated to give a positive review in exchange.
I highly recommend this book for anyone
FTC: I received a free copy of this book and was not reimbursed in any other way.
George, is an unfaithful husband. Pearl, is wife, is the caregiver of the family. Billy the oldest child has a drug problem and is straigtened out by George while in France. Iska is a teenage author. Muriel is the ever overbearing mother in law who refuses to die. That is until the plane ride home.
I have recieved this book free of charge from Goodreads.com giveaway and am in no way obligated to give a positive review in exchange.
I highly recommend this book for anyone
FTC: I received a free copy of this book and was not reimbursed in any other way.
July 1, 2011
I won this book through the Goodreads Giveaway! I have to say that I had a lot of reactions to this book, partly because I did not care for the main character. He was grouchy, rude, egotistical, lacked morals, and was overall a pain in the butt. However, I did like his directedness (I felt like I needed to give him something positive). The book was a quick read. I didn't like how I felt at the end, but it did make me feel and that is what you want out of a book. I would say the book was interesting, but I'm not sure I want to learn anything more about Mr. Henry...
June 15, 2011
***Goodread Giveaway*** A solid short story in which you find yourself rooting for the arrogant George Baxter Henry as he deals with his crazy, overbearing mother-in-law, a failing marriage and coked up son. I loved the quirky little notes his daughter left for him on apples. This is a funny and inspiring book for anyone with a disfunctional family.
July 1, 2011
Great book! I had no idea what I was getting myself into when I randomly signed up for this giveaway but I am glad I did. The main character was vulgar and raunchy and in my opinion, really set this book apart from others of its type. The author didn't drag the story on like some do, leaving me very content after reading it. I definitely recommend this book!!!
August 18, 2011
Quite a funny little book. It was an enjoyable quick read.
Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews