All Happy Families - by Jeanne McCulloch (Paperback)

Book Synopsis

The Glass Castle meets The Nest in this stunning debut, an intimate family memoir that gracefully brings us behind the dappled beachfront vista of privilege, to reveal the inner lives of two wonderfully colorful, unforgettable families.

On a mid-August weekend, two families assemble for a wedding at a rambling family mansion on the beach in East Hampton, in the last days of the area's quietly refined country splendor, before traffic jams and high-end boutiques morphed the peaceful enclave into the "Hamptons." The weather is perfect, the tent is in place on the lawn.

But as the festivities are readied, the father of the bride, and "pater familias" of the beachfront manse, suffers a massive stroke from alcohol withdrawal, and lies in a coma in the hospital in the next town. So begins Jeanne McCulloch's vivid memoir of her wedding weekend in 1983 and its after effects on her family, and the family of the groom. In a society defined by appearance and protocol, the wedding goes on at the insistence of McCulloch's theatrical mother. Instead of a planned honeymoon, wedding presents are stashed in the attic, arrangements are made for a funeral, and a team of lawyers arrive armed with papers for McCulloch and her siblings to sign.

As McCulloch reveals, the repercussions from that weekend will ripple throughout her own family, and that of her in-law's lives as they grapple with questions of loyalty, tradition, marital honor, hope, and loss. Five years later, her own brief marriage ended, she returns to East Hampton with her mother to divide the wedding presents that were never opened.

Impressionistic and lyrical, at turns both witty and poignant, All Happy Families is McCulloch's clear-eyed account of her struggle to hear her own voice amid the noise of social mores and family dysfunction, in a world where all that glitters on the surface is not gold, and each unhappy family is ultimately unhappy in its own unique way.

From the Back Cover

The Glass Castle meets The Nest in this stunning debut, an intimate family memoir that gracefully brings us behind the dappled beachfront vista of privilege to reveal the inner lives of two wonderfully colorful, unforgettable families.

On a mid-August weekend in 1983, two families assemble for a wedding at a rambling mansion on the beach in East Hampton, in the last days of the area's quietly refined country splendor, before traffic jams and high-end boutiques morphed the peaceful enclave into "the Hamptons." The weather is perfect; the tent is in place on the lawn.

But as the festivities are readied, the father of the bride and paterfamilias of the beachfront manse suffers a massive stroke from alcohol withdrawal and lies in a coma in the hospital in the next town. Yet the wedding goes on at the insistence of Jeanne McCulloch's theatrical mother, for the sake of protocol and keeping up appearances. Instead of going on their planned honeymoon, the newlyweds stash their wedding presents in the attic, arrangements are made for a funeral, and a team of lawyers arrives armed with papers for McCulloch and her siblings to sign.

So begins McCulloch's vivid memoir of her wedding weekend and its aftereffects. As she reveals, the repercussions from that weekend will ripple throughout her own family and through her in-laws' lives as they all grapple with questions of loyalty, tradition, marital honor, hope, and loss.

Impressionistic and lyrical, at turns both witty and heartrending, All Happy Families is McCulloch's clear-eyed account of her struggle to hear her own voice amid the noise of social mores and family dysfunction, in a world where all that glitters on the surface is not gold, and each unhappy family is ultimately unhappy in its own way.

Review Quotes

"All Happy Families is a wry and poignant account of a doomed wedding, a house 'on a perilous dune' in the Hamptons, and a world of privilege at its vanishing point. Jeanne McCulloch's take on the American aristocracy is informed by her sharp eye for any sign of pretentiousness and her uncanny ability to render the despair at the heart of every happy family. Think of her as an Edith Wharton for the twenty-first century: we need her wisdom now more than ever." - Christopher Merrill, author of Self-Portrait with Dogwood
"At the center of All Happy Families is a dramatic, dire, opulent wedding, which creates ever widening circles of concern about wealth, its concomitant glamor and the corrosive fear of loss it brings, about notions of femininity, style and grace, and finally, about time, the eternal antagonist to happy and unhappy families alike. McCulloch is as wise as she is funny, keen both to the ridiculous excesses of the moneyed class and to the evanescence of commercial beauty, while attentive to the intricate pains of alcoholism and love's failures that afflict her characters, amidst the splendor." - Mona Simpson, author of Casebook and My Hollywood
"McCulloch is as wise as she is funny, keen both to the ridiculous excesses of the moneyed class and to the evanescence of commercial beauty, while attentive to the intricate pains of alcoholism and love's failures that afflict her characters, amidst the splendor." - Mona Simpson, author of Casebook and My Hollywood
McCulloch's droll, deft and tender-hearted portrait of the steely matriarchal bonds that endure alcoholism and genteel masculine decay is a delightful addition to the literature of WASP manners. I loved it. - John Seabrook
"In this elegant, searching memoir, Jeanne McCulloch peels back the glittering layers of privilege that comprise the surface of her family, and exposes the soft, complicated, tender core beneath. This is a beautiful book about love, loss, and the ravages of time. I adored it." - Dani Shapiro
"An eminently enjoyable take on the infinite tangles and triumphs of family." - Booklist
"...an honest and sensitive portrayal of family dysfunction as well as an evocation of a dying world of old-money wealth and privilege. A poignantly intimate memoir." - Kirkus Reviews
"Partly a breezy scene piece, partly a meditation on the familial forces that make us who we are, All Happy Families is a distinct and evocative work." - Vogue