Customer Reviews

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

5 star:		(49)
4 star:		(15)
3 star:		(5)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(4)

 

 

"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.

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.

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.

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!

...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.

If you've ever spotted a big old romantic looking house and wondered what it was like to live there, this is your book. You'll never have a better guide than George Howe Colt. Here is the way he takes you on your first step through the front door of his family's 100-year-old summer mansion:

"Inside, we are enveloped by an unmistakable smell, one that might be difficult for even the most expert chemist to break down, but that seems to be composed in various measures, of salt, wind, dust, sunlight, moonlight, sand, pine, mildew, mothballs, leather, old books, disintegrating bricks, and dead bluebottle flies. It is a smell so evocative and precious, so irresistibly redolent of both life and decay, that I wonder why it has never been bottled and sold as perfume."

We follow him into 19 rooms, into secret passages, under eaves, into forgotten spaces, down to the beach and out into the harbor. We follow him into pictures of ancestors and relive the building of the house and the wonderful summer vacations of delicious leisure. It was an eye-opener for me to learn just how well Boston Brahmins loosened up in a family environment and laughed at themselves. One hostess, for instance, insisted everyone wear shoes for Sunday dinners, but did not care whose shoes you wore and kept a pile of them outside the dining room for your convenience. You might see a woman in a 30 year-old pink evening gown -- and keds.

Once you've heard the wind in the rafters, felt the clam shells and gravel under your toes, raced the sailboat, and dreamed under the stars you're ready for the tales of family troubles. In one of the most splendid passages in the book Colt pays homage to parents who almost divorced, but didn't -- and the role of a large family pulling together to survive as family left me deep in thought.

I join the chorus of those who are saying, "Don't miss it!"
DON'T MISS IT!!!

I've read some of the other reviews and am bewildered by the negative comments. One reviewer hypothesizes that one needs to live on Cape Cod and/or be a member of the Boston Brahmin to relate to this book. Shoot, I'm in Minnesota (pretty far from the Cape) and our families immigrated in the 1850s. Yet I found this book throughly fascinating.

In part, this is a book about a house. The description of its construction, additions and finally renovation were interesting and gave me insight to how construction -- and housing -- has changed.

In part this book is about a family. I found the family history . Didn't necessarily like everything about every family member but found the author's ability to honestly portray his family compelling.

In part, this book is about an area. While we've visited Cape Cod, we've not spent much time there. We've spent more time in Door County WI which is often compared to the Cape. I'm not sure how valid the comparison is but the mindset that the author creates of lazy summer days, boating, tennis, etc rings true.

I found that despite a fairly different set of circumstances, this book evoked a lot of memories of our family's vacations in Wisconsin ... of our family's "skeletons in the closet" ... of our family's dealing with aging and resolving multi-generational spats, grievances, etc.

It's a wonderful book.

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!

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.

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.