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Summary: Cape Cod As it Was
Review: Mr. Colt has brought anyone who knows Upper Cape Cod an historical and amusing look at how New England lived at mid 20th century. For me it was a revelation, for my book "Cape Cod Summers", published the same year, takes place not more than a long stone's throw from Colt's "The Big House". Written "differently", still our books cross in word usage, familiar sites and an undying love for our Cape Cod similar childhoods which made us who we are today.
Colt's book is chock full of tiny facts about the life and times of not ony summering on the Cape but living off-Cape in the other seasons. Simple, if you love the Cape, if you know its vernacular, its distinct nuances and you enjoy entertaining vignettes, you'll love this book and savor each story.
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Summary: Beautiful, Thoughtful, Heartbreaking
Review: "The Big House" is a big piece of work by George Howe Colt.
For a century, "The Big House," an eleven bedroom architectural gem on Cape Cod, has been in the Atkinson/Colt family. At the start of the book, Colt describes taking his young family to the house for what may be the last summer. Alas, the extended family can no longer afford to keep the home and it must be sold.The house has served as a center of gravity for this family, a place which pulls them back each summer to live out graceful and simple Boston Brahim traditions. The house also serves as a metaphor for the fading fortunes of this once wealthy, once socially prominent family whose entire caste-the Brahmins of Boston--has become irrelevant. Through the prism of the house and its meaning to his family, Colt also delves into his family's history of mental illness, of marriages that become estranged, of boys that start out as golden children and end up tarnished old men. He also recounts his own story. He began his adult life as a young Brahmin with disdain for his heritage. Now in mid-life and a New Yorker, he is deeply proud of the many traits (e.g., thrift, reverence for family) bred deep in his bones. I would recommend this book to those who gravitate towards serious memoirs and thoughtful accounts of profound issues (e.g., meaning of family). It is a beautiful read.
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Summary: Have local knowledge of these waters...
Review: ...both literally and metaphorically.
I found The Big House a fascinating read for several reasons. First, Colt's story hits awfully close to home; my family, too, had a Buzzards Bay 'Shingle' house just a few miles south of the Colt homestead, and lost it for similar reasons. The discussion of 'Cold Roast Boston' Brahmin culture and values - and the pressures these place on its scions - cuts close, too. Even grew up (winters) in the same Connecticut town, at the same time. I'm surprised we never met.
I need to be clear here: Colt is a hugely gifted writer. His prose is rich and sensual; his observational powers are wonderful, and his ability to describe place - sight, smell, touch - is remarkable, as is his ability to respectfully and still accurately tell the stories of his family. In lesser hands, The Big House would be a maudlin bit of nostalgic pap and of interest only to those who know the area and the culture. The book avoids this trap... barely.
Even so, there's something slightly self-indulgent about The Big House. Obviously, the creation of a book like this creates a catharsis for its author, and it was interesting - mostly - to go along for the ride. But in a book that's ultimately all about learning to let go of things we love, it's kind of ironic that the author didn't seem able to let go of the book, either. WASP families, for all their virtues, can become somewhat stifling after a while, and so does The Big House. Fifty or sixty fewer pages would have left me amazed, moved and wanting more. As it is, I ultimately felt like I'd stayed with the relatives a few days too long.
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Summary: A Memory Walk
Review: For anyone who has ever had a family summer home, or been a frequent guest at a summer home, this book will surely bring back memories. It doesn't matter whether the house is on Cape Cod, New Hampshire, or elsewhere, there is something that will resonate with everyone. I found myself underlining passages and writing in the margins and I know that when I pass the book along to other family members, they will add their own commentary and memories.
My family is also faced with the possibility of losing its beloved summer home, or at least parts of it, and I am very saddened that my children will miss out on the "experience" a summer home provides. This book captures my feelings exactly.
Although the book does get a bit bogged down with family history (a family tree would be helpful) it more than makes up for this in its unsweetened sentimentality.
A good summer read, particularly curled up in a favorite spot in your summer home.
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Summary: A Big, Wonderful Read
Review: George Howe Colt, please write another book!
This is a wonderful book. I grew up spending summer vacations on Cape Cod - although we rented little cabins rather than returning to an 8,000 square foot, 19 room family summer home, as the Colts did - and reading it returned me to the lazy warm days of my youth. But this book evokes much more than just memories of summer.
Mr. Colt combines an extraordinary family history, architectural details, a history of the Cape and of the enormous summer homes built along the Eastern seaboard, and beautiful writing. It is a poignant story about the heirs to a summer house that can no longer afford the upkeep and so decide to sell. The book is a memoir and elegy to a house that was an important part of the author's life.
If you like good writing and summers by the shore, you'll enjoy this book. But don't wait until next summer to read it.
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Summary: Loved this book
Review: I have to give this one 5 stars. I absolutely loved it. I don't even know why. I live in the southeast and haven't been to Cape Cod since I was about 5. Our (half WASP/half Catholic) family rented various summer houses over the years, returning to one in particular in Weekapaug, RI,which had a huge trap door in a ceiling that we kids jumped out of onto a creaky old bed, so maybe it evoked old memories. I guess it was also the history of the Cape, the history of his family....(I'm fascinated by turn of the century events.....)and how all of this was wrapped up in this big old beautiful house. I too can just smell the inside of it. I can see the nooks and crannies...all the old books and pictures. Every time I finished a chapter I felt an ache in my heart...more than nostalgia.... it had to be the author's writing. I loved the book so much that I am keeping my copy and bought 2 more: one for my mother and one for my brother. I especially enjoyed reading this in August as the summer winds down. Thank you Mr. Colt!
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Summary: A Superb Read on Family, History and Place
Review: If you've ever yearned for a family summer home and a connection to the generations that preceded you, this is your book.
George Howe Colt has written a superb, heartfelt tribute to his Atkinson and Colt forbears and to their summer home on Wings Neck, a rocky Cape Cod peninsula. The venerable and crotchety summer home, the Big House, towers above Buzzards Bay and serves as a faithful repository of the family history from 1903 to the next century.
Colt is among the fourth generation of his family to occupy the Big House-- his children represent the fifth. This beautifully-written memoir will transport you to summertime Cape Cod, educate you on the rise, flourishing and decline of Brahmin Boston, and allow you to enter the poignant, often difficult but ultimately loving history of the Atkinson-Colt clan.
The Big House works on numerous levels, as a travelogue, as a social and architectural history, as an intimate family saga, and as a musing on permanence, impermanence, change and renewal. At book's end, you will have steeped yourself in Atkinson and Colt lore and will believe yourself a honorary-- if temporary-- member of the family. And you will have acquired-- if temporarily-- a remarkable summer home.
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Summary: This book is in my top 10 favorites reads of all time.
Review: The Big House is so many things, evokes so many feelings and alerts all of your senses. I have never really felt compelled to write a review online for anything, but when I finished The Big House, I wanted everyone to experience what I felt. First of all, it's a great summer read because it's about summers on Cape Cod in a fantastic old house. But it's also a fabulous history of a family from the turn of the century to the present. It takes you back to a different era. This writer takes you through every part of this amazing house and the path down to the water. You can feel it, you can smell it and you can hear the wind blow! It reminded me of many summers at the beach with my family and even though it wasn't on Cape Cod, there were so many similarities. You can see the worn decks of cards in the drawer and the old Monopoly games, you can smell the muffins in the kitchen, you can even picture the photographs on the walls and see the old books in the bookcases...I can't say enough good things about this book. It's a book that I didn't want to end...and yet I needed to finish to see what happens to the house. George Howe Colt is a very gifted writer. You have to read this!
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Summary: Wistful and nostalgic. Beautiful!
Review: The Big House on Cape Cod was built more than a century ago by the author's great-grandfather. It weathered 2 world wars, joy and tragedy, the changing seasons and fortunes of two families, and the transition from the simpler life-styles of past times to our own modern 'very fast is still too slow' culture. When the house becomes financially untenable for family members to maintain, Colt returns for one last visit before it goes on sale...and there the story, a touching and wistful memoir, begins. Don't miss this lovely book.
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Summary: Like walking through a dream....
Review: This book is incredible. I feel like I am reliving my childhood which is a bit odd because my childhood would have decidedly been on the other side of the tracks from the author's. My grandmother, in fact, was one of those large, warm, cuddly Irish women who worked for families like the Colts and Atkinsons. Until her death she received loving cards and letters from the children that she cared for (reading some of the names in this book, I believe they might be cousins). To me, this narrative transcends the class structure of the 60's in the US. Times have changed, my best friend is from one of those WASP families and 70 years ago our paths never would have crossed. The author tells his story and his family's story in a way that makes me feel he is telling the story of us all. This book made me sad and elated at the same time. I think deep down, people are more alike than different.
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