Books : Home Before Dark (Contemporary Classics (Washington Square Press))
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by: Susan Cheever
Binding: Paperback
Dewey Decimal Number: 809
EAN: 9780671028503
ISBN: 0671028502
Label: Washington Square Press
Manufacturer: Washington Square Press
Number Of Items: 1
Number Of Pages: 256
Publication Date: January 01, 1999
Publisher: Washington Square Press
Sales Rank: 339953
Studio: Washington Square Press
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Editorial Review:
Product Description:
In Home Before Dark, Susan Cheever, daughter of the famously talented writer John Cheever, uses previously unpublished letters, journals, and her own precious memories to create a candid and insightful tribute to her father. While producing some of the most beloved and celebrated American literature of this century, John Cheever wrestled with personal demons that deeply affected his family life as well as his career. In this poignant memoir of a man driven by boundless genius and ambition, Susan Cheever writes with heartwrenching honesty of family life with the father, the writer, and the remarkable man she loved.
Customer Reviews
Average Rating: 
Rating:  - Boring
I bought this after reading The Journals of John Cheever (which is an incredible book.) What I was most struck by after reading Ms. Cheever's book, was that her father was a true writer, and she is not. Her book was boring, predictable, and shed no real new light on her father's personality. His journals are raw, real, and intimate. Her recollections are alienated and just plain boring. Sorry, but I was hoping for an interesting read, and this wasn't it.
Rating:  - Confusion in creation- land
This memoir tells a great deal about the extended family of John Cheever. His is the less reputable wing of of a family which goes back to the early foundations of America. Susan Cheever writes with understanding and consideration of her father's troubled life. The shocking bankruptcy and abandonment of his father remained a basis for his great insecurity throughout his life. Susan Cheever reveals her father to be a man of great charm, and excellent ability to befriend and be helped by wealthy patrons, ... Read More
Rating: - Susan is a better writer than John
This is a very interesting look at the demons of the father, from alcoholism to a confused sexuality that wreaked havoc on his family. John Cheever forged a career writing about his own issues, tales of disillusion and disintegration in suburbia, all to alcoholic excess and in search of meaning. Susan, his daughter, is an absolutely excellent writer and explains what he was like as she grew up, so it is not a straight biography but mixed with memoire. Some of it is shocking, such as the way John periodically ... Read More
Rating:  - A Terrific Book
Home Before Dark is a beautifully written, moving book that stays with you long after you have finished reading it. It helps that Susan Cheever's subject, her father, was (and remains long after his death) one of the finest fiction writers in the history of American literature. What distinguishes John Cheever's stories, outside of his magical touch with words, is the passion and love he brings to illuminating his small corner of the world -- life in the New York suburbs of the 1950s and 1960s. Most writers who explore ... Read More
Rating:  - Cheever Still An Enigma
As a memoir of a daughter's relationship with her father, this is very touching, but there is little here that sheds much light on John Cheever, the writer. Given the various levels of family dysfunction and unhappiness in Cheever's stories and novels, it is gratifying that his daughter found so much to love in her father. For a more abrasive, but still admiring view of the man, you might also enjoy reading Benjamin Cheever's novel, The Plagiarist.
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