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Love Child: A Memoir of Family Lost and Found [Hardcover]

Allegra Huston (Author)
4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (24 customer reviews)


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Book Description

April 7, 2009
• Inside a legendary American family: Allegra Huston was the third child of John Huston’s fourth wife, the beautiful ballet dancer Ricki Soma. In this graceful, penetrating memoir, Allegra takes us into the world of a child unmoored by her mother’s sudden death and sent on an odyssey which took her from John Huston’s fabulous estate in Ireland, to the American suburbs, to a hidden paradise in Mexico—and, at the side of her older sister Anjelica, into the hilltop retreats of Jack Nicholson, Ryan O’Neal, and Marlon Brando. Allegra paints a vivid, caring, and affecting portrait of her parents and the luminous circle of friends, acquaintances, lovers, and artists who were a part of family life. .

• A revelatory twist and family connection: At the age of twelve Allegra Huston discovered her biological father to be the British aristocrat and historian John Julius Norwich. Suffused with a quiet intensity of emotion, Love Child explores family secrets and family bonds, and the unreliable certainties of memory—and ends with an unexpected triumph..

--This text refers to the Paperback edition.

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Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Starred Review. Huston�s memoir begins when she is five years old, learning of her mother�s death from her godfather. Although she is sent to live with her father, the film director John Huston, he is an intermittent presence in her life. Then, when she is 12, Allegra�s stepmother informs her that her real father is the British historian John Julius Norwich. Huston, who spent several years as an editor in British publishing before creating a writers� workshop in New Mexico, skillfully integrates her childhood memories with revelations from her mother�s correspondence, recounting her often-awkward encounters with my dad (Huston) and my father (Norwich) with great sensitivity. Although she spent part of her adolescence living with her older sister, Anjelica, there isn�t much in the way of Hollywood gossip beyond fleeting scenes of Marlon Brando playing chess and verbal abuse from Ryan O�Neal. Instead, the emphasis lies in young Allegra�s constant feelings of alienation and the subtle development of familial affections that culminate with Hustons and Norwichs coming together to witness the christening of her own son. Where many memoirists compete to see who�s had the most outrageous life, this story stands out in its quiet poignancy. 16 pages of b&w photographs not seen by PW. (Apr.)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Review

"This extraordinary book reveals the all but unendurable sorrow of loss and the courage of those unwilling to live in a world without love. Allegra Huston's memoir glimmers with triumphant wisdom. She has, above all, a great conscience, understanding that it is only what is mysterious that survives." -- Susanna Moore, author of The Big Girls and In the Cut --This text refers to the Paperback edition.

Product Details

  • Hardcover: 304 pages
  • Publisher: Simon & Schuster (April 7, 2009)
  • Language: English
  • ISBN-10: 1416551573
  • ISBN-13: 978-1416551577
  • Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 6.3 x 1.1 inches
  • Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds
  • Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (24 customer reviews)
  • Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #805,454 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

24 Reviews
5 star:
 (19)
4 star:
 (2)
3 star:    (0)
2 star:
 (1)
1 star:
 (2)
 
 
 
 
 
Average Customer Review
4.5 out of 5 stars (24 customer reviews)
 
 
 
 
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

12 of 13 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars Brilliantly written, April 3, 2009
This review is from: Love Child: A Memoir of Family Lost and Found (Hardcover)
Absolutely brilliant. LOVE CHILD marks the debut of a major writer.

Allegra Huston's powers of description and characterization are breathtaking. Her portrait of John Huston is quite simply a masterpiece: she has written the classic portrait of one of Hollywood's most complex, fascinating, and elusive characters.

Huston has peopled the pages of her dramatic and heartbreaking memoir with a whole gallery of unforgettable characters. And the voice of the child Allegra herself will haunt you long after you have finished the book.

Ireland, Mexico, Malibu, and London--all come to vivid life in her talented hands. This is a book of rare intelligence and sensitivity.
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10 of 11 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars Gracefully done, March 31, 2009
By 
Beckie (OH United States) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Love Child: A Memoir of Family Lost and Found (Hardcover)
I don't usually read memoirs, thinking them less interesting than the thrillers and mysteries that I usually read. So I smiled as I forced myself to close the book, unfinished, last night because I needed to get to sleep. This morning I snuggled back under a blanket to read to the end. I would say that's the sign of a well written tale and it smashed my prejudice against the genre. What was I thinking!

At first I was drawn to the story because of the Huston family connection. Even from the beginning, I'm sure I was looking forward to the 'good stuff' about father, John Huston, and sister Anjelica, and the film industry. But soon it was Allegra who I wanted to know.

Details of the more recent years are missing, although we do peek in on her current life in Taos NM, where Allegra seems happy and fulfilled, connected to family in every direction.
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6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars Should be an Oprah Book Club pick, April 3, 2009
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This review is from: Love Child: A Memoir of Family Lost and Found (Hardcover)
Yes, it's that good. A story of fate, love, family, sex, loss, and redemption, Love Child is a tender, courageous memoir that is remarkably readable, intelligent and moving. Allegra is a masterful story teller, but beyond that she's funny, humane and endearingly self-aware. Most memoirs recount facts, this one invites us in and I often found myself wanting to talk back when someone was harsh to her. I wanted to hide out in the tress to catch a glimpse of her crazy grandfather doing hand stands on the widow's walk of one of the many homes she grew up in and I laughed out loud when Jack played an outrageous practical joke on Marlon Brando. I wanted to know her and in the end I wanted her to have a storybook ending. This is a story that will stay with me for a long time as a reminder that there is very little that can't be overcome if you let love find you -- and if this wonderful story isn't enough, there's a sixteen page family photo album in the middle that by itself is worth the price of the book!
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Inside This Book (learn more)
Key Phrases - Statistically Improbable Phrases (SIPs): (learn more)
water bus, beach glass
Key Phrases - Capitalized Phrases (CAPs): (learn more)
Allegra Huston, John Julius, Aunt Dorothy, Big House, Las Caletas, Little House, Maida Avenue, Gloom Castle, New York, Miller Place, Allegro Huston, Beverly Hills Hotel, Bhutan Room, John Travolta, Los Angeles, Uncle Nap, Winslow Homer, Henry Hyde, Paddy Lynch, New Mexico, Night Image, John Huston, Paddy Coyne, Pacific Coast Highway, Euclid Street
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