The Big House : A Century in the Life of an American Summer Home

Rating:
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.

Rating:
Summary: A Magnificent Book
Review: This book is so good it had me weeping at the sheer beauty of the memories, the passion, the sadness of losing the Big House, and the family history including mental breakdowns. You can smell the smells and see the sights and feel the longing on each page. I started to read slower and slower as I neared the last page because I did not want the experience to end. If you have ever been to a summer home, even for one season, even just for a visit, you will relate to the perfect descriptions of everything involved. This book brought back childhood memories I have not thought of in decades. Big House is a beautiful story, magnificently told, a privilege to read. I thank the author for his gift to me. How ironic that the money he earns from this book would probably allow him to "save" the house but, alas, it comes too late. Make sure you experience this book.

Rating:
Summary: Memoir of a House
Review: This finely written tribute to a house is most special. I devoured each page and learned about the intimate history of an old New England family and its roots. Brings to mind a bygone era of people who cannot through anything away and savor memories of simpler times...before life got too complicated. Please read this book...don't miss it. Thanks to George Colt! You may have inspired me to write about my extended family, although it would be hard to top this book.

Rating:
Summary: big house revisited
Review: This is a marvelous book. It is not just the story of a summer house, and of the family that owned it for it's first hundred years, It is a book about what Aristocracy means, about letting go, about accepting oblivion.
There is only one draw back to the book : No maps, No family tree, No photographs. The maps you can buy, the family tree you can draw yourself as you read the book, but you need the photographs. Especially when there are so many descriptions of photos in the book.
I suggest the publishing of a new " Special Edition" of the book, with reproductions of the original blueprint for The Big House, and photos of it and the successive generations of Forbes-Atkinsons- Colts -Singers who summered in it.

Rating:
Summary: Lots of "Stuff" in the Big House
Review: This might best be characterized as a memoir, but it is more than that. The author throws in some histories of summer homes, Cape Cod, "old" money, "old" Boston families, some family pyschology and history. All are tied to the Big House - a vacation home on Cape Cod in his family for a century.

The writing is very good. At times, when Mr. Colt is describing a particularly fond memory or a feature of the house he waxes poetic.

Mr. Colt weaves his family's history in and out of this house well. Along the way, he describes so many events and objects that, to the reader, it becomes more than just his family history. It is a history that has elements that will touch every reader. Perhaps your family did not enter tennis tournaments; but maybe they sailed, or walked beaches or swam or had a summer place. Every reader will find reminiscences that will resonate.

The only short-coming I found to the book was a too-long description of the machinations the family underwent to sell the house. The remainder flowed well.

The memoir uses Mr. Colt's last summer at the Big House with his young family as a catalyst. He knows the house has been sold and that this would be his last summer there. This led to the most poignant moments when he and his family would do something special or, something very ordinary, that had been done by three generations before and Mr. Colt would realize it would be the last time - gathering crabs, walking the beach, playing on the tennis court, etc.

A very good book that brings family, a slice of the twentieth century and a bit of history through the nineteen rooms and yard of a big old vacation home on the Cape.