Looks Like Howard (Paperback)

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Editorial Reviews

Product Description

Ever since I ve known Howard, he s been dead. Author, Patricia Kambitsch, tells the true story of her father whose untimely death spurred a lifetime of storytelling. However dead he may be, Howard, the mild-mannered, über-geek hero, thrives through the collective imagination of his widow and six children. Questions of what really happened to her father give way to fantasy suspicions that include the questionable next-door neighbor who was last seen with her father, secret government projects, and alien abduction. Tales range from imaginative family antics at graveside, to bullying in the bathtub, to playing Jesus on the sidewalk. In the end, answers to the questions become less important than truths revealed through the re-creation of the past through a shared mythology.

From the Back Cover

Ever since I've known Howard, he's been dead.

However dead he may be, Howard, the mild-mannered, über-geek hero, thrives through the collective memories of his widow and six children. Questions of what really happened to Howard give way to fantasy suspicions that include the questionable next-door neighbor who was last seen with her father, secret government projects, and alien abduction. Truer tales range from imaginative family antics at graveside, to playing Jesus on the sidewalk.

These flashes of memory illuminate the complexity of family relationships revealing--though never wallowing in--grief, jealousy, deceit, rivalry, and love.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 170 pages
• Publisher: Behler Publications (March 1, 2008)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1933016485
• ISBN-13: 978-1933016481
• Product Dimensions: 8.3 x 5.4 x 0.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #975,095 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Funny and touching, October 12, 2006

By	Tech Reader - See all my reviews

This review is from: Looks Like Howard (Paperback)

In this memoir, Kambitsch really nails the smallest moments of family and childhood all under the shadow of her dead father. It sounds like a sad story from the outside. Six children left fatherless, a grieving, lovely widow left to fend for them all.

But it's not what you think.

What makes this book different from the typical early childhood trauma memoir is Kambitsch's irreverent and hilarious narrating voice. She has all the flair of an author like David Sedaris and his underhanded humor, and she is able to capture the conversations, the rules of the childhood games (like "Playing Jesus"), and the portraits of her family that really make the story pop.
Kambitsch sneaks in some poignant and sad issues and then tears them apart with her sarcastic and straightforward humor. In the end, you will love this family for their imperfections.

It's refreshingly subtle and smart writing.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Howard . . . we hardly knew ye, September 20, 2006

By	special K (Milwaukee, WI) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Looks Like Howard (Paperback)

I'm not certain exactly how LOOKS LIKE HOWARD ended up in my hands. I think it was one of those friend of a friend of a friend situations. Being a recently retired librarian, I suspect that folks think that I don't have enough to do, so they send me books. They send me lots of them. :-)

But anyway, about the book. It seems that nearly everyone, at some point in their life, thinks that they have a story, or a personal history, that needs to be shared with the world. Unfortunately, for the reader, stringing together a laundry list of nostalgiac events does not make for
a good book and frequently these writing exercises can be quite painful to read.

Not so with Kambitsch's childhood memoir LOOKS LIKE HOWARD.

Not even close.

What a pleasant surprise and a wonderful read this book is! What carries Kambitsch's story is her ability to recognize, like a true writer, that
frequently it is the little stories that reveal the big truths. In her case, many of the revelations are about her very early childhood, growing up the youngest of six children, and her father (the "Howard" of the title) who died at a very young age - when he was 38 and the author
was 3.

But it is much more than Kambitsch's "writer's eye" that makes the book so enjoyable. Her crisp and direct writing style frequently gives way to brief yet stunning images (the description of her mother's legendary fertility comes to mind: "children flew out of the Kronenberger women like helicoptors from maple trees"); and her almost respectful appreciation for the absurd help turn seemingly simple (and frequently
hilarious!) vignettes into something much larger.

The result is a book that is moving, revealing, and very funny - a tough combination that many writers are not able to pull off.

A big "thank you" from this reader to Kambitsch for sharing her story. And a tip of the hat to Howard for inspiring so much even though his stay was so brief.

Well done and highly recommended!

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Look Like Brilliance, June 30, 2008

By	Alexandra Lander (Dayton, Ohio) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

One of the best and most entertaining reads I've had in quite some time. Sure, it was extra-special reading a memoir that took place in familiar home-territory, with so-familiar-that-it's-scary parallels that happen in many large, Catholic family settings.....but mostly it's just beautiful imagination shining onto paper, weaving a tapestry of humor, wackiness, honesty, awareness and insight to which many readers will instantly relate. The ending was unexpected and delightful (gave me chills, actually). I look forward to more titles by this author in the future!