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The House with Round Windows: A Memoir
A personal, poetic counterpoint to the work of W.D. Snodgrass.
The poems of W. D. Snodgrass, based on events from his troubled family life—particularly the death of a beloved sister—directly influenced Robert Lowell, Anne Sexton, Sylvia Plath, and changed mid-twentieth century American poetry. Now his younger brother, Richard Snodgrass, who experienced those family events as well, masterfully weaves a counterpoint of personal stories, family history, and his own photographs into his work that reminds the reader that there are many sides to any story, that every unhappy family is unhappy in its way, and—perhaps most terrible of all—that everyone has their reasons.
The poems of W. D. Snodgrass, based on events from his troubled family life—particularly the death of a beloved sister—directly influenced Robert Lowell, Anne Sexton, Sylvia Plath, and changed mid-twentieth century American poetry. Now his younger brother, Richard Snodgrass, who experienced those family events as well, masterfully weaves a counterpoint of personal stories, family history, and his own photographs into his work that reminds the reader that there are many sides to any story, that every unhappy family is unhappy in its way, and—perhaps most terrible of all—that everyone has their reasons.
312 pages, Paperback
Published February 15, 2022
About the author
Richard Snodgrass
24 books34 followersRichard Snodgrass is the critically acclaimed author of the “Books of Furnass” Series, an eleven-volume set of novels that explores the hopes, disappointments, relationships, and betrayals that make up life in a fictional Western Pennsylvania mill town and its surrounding farmlands from the time of the French and Indian War to modern day. The eleventh book in the series, Torn, will be released on September 17, 2025.
Snodgrass is also the author of There’s Something in the Back Yard, published in 1989 by Viking, and praised by Jack Stephens of the Washington Post Book World who wrote, “Observe this mysterious book and be changed.” Other works by Snodgrass include: An Uncommon Field: The Flight 93 Temporary Memorial, published in September of 2011 by Carnegie Mellon University Press, and Kitchen Things: An Album of Vintage Utensils and Farm Kitchen Recipes, published in 2013 by Skyhorse and named one of the year’s “best books to get you thinking about food” by the Associated Press.
Snodgrass’s short stories and essays have appeared in the New England Review/Bread Loaf Quarterly, South Dakota Review, California Review, Pittsburgh Quarterly, and elsewhere. He is also a master photographer who has been artist-in-residence at LightWorks (University of Syracuse) and at the Helene Wurlitzer Foundation in Taos, New Mexico. He is the recipient of a fellowship from the Pennsylvania Council on the Arts.
Richard Snodgrass lives in Pittsburgh, PA, with his wife Marty and two indomitable female tuxedo cats, raised from feral kittens, named Frankie and Becca.
Snodgrass is also the author of There’s Something in the Back Yard, published in 1989 by Viking, and praised by Jack Stephens of the Washington Post Book World who wrote, “Observe this mysterious book and be changed.” Other works by Snodgrass include: An Uncommon Field: The Flight 93 Temporary Memorial, published in September of 2011 by Carnegie Mellon University Press, and Kitchen Things: An Album of Vintage Utensils and Farm Kitchen Recipes, published in 2013 by Skyhorse and named one of the year’s “best books to get you thinking about food” by the Associated Press.
Snodgrass’s short stories and essays have appeared in the New England Review/Bread Loaf Quarterly, South Dakota Review, California Review, Pittsburgh Quarterly, and elsewhere. He is also a master photographer who has been artist-in-residence at LightWorks (University of Syracuse) and at the Helene Wurlitzer Foundation in Taos, New Mexico. He is the recipient of a fellowship from the Pennsylvania Council on the Arts.
Richard Snodgrass lives in Pittsburgh, PA, with his wife Marty and two indomitable female tuxedo cats, raised from feral kittens, named Frankie and Becca.
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Displaying 1 of 1 review
March 25, 2022
Not a history of the house but the story of the family that lived there, told by the youngest son. I read this book in a day because the writing was strong and smooth. I could not put it down.
Displaying 1 of 1 review