When Bernard Cooper receives the inheritance from his deceased LA divorce lawyer father in the form of an invoice for $2 million, an itemized breakdown of the cost of his own childhood, he pens a memoir exploring financial and emotional indebtedness.
Critic Reviews
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Outstanding
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San Francisco Chronicle Kevin Smokler
One of the loveliest memoirs to come along in a great while.
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Outstanding
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The New York Times Book Review Norah Vincent
At their most astute, memoirs are about more than the story of someone's life. They are about the function of memory itself, its narrative power to create and destroy, sweeten and obliterate the past in the service of the present. The Bill from My Father... is just such a memoir.
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Outstanding
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The Observer Viv Groskop
Cooper is a beautiful writer...and turns the father-son dysfunction into an emotional odyssey.
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Favorable
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The Spectator
[An] elegant memoir.
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Favorable
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Daily Telegraph Christopher Silvester
A masterly lesson in delivering insight and self-knowledge with compassionate humour. Bernard Cooper is an acute analyst of nuance, and this is a beguiling book.
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Favorable
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Booklist Whitney Scott
A humorous, wrenching, but never boring exploration of a frustrating father-son relationship. [1 Feb 2006, p.16]
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Favorable
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Entertainment Weekly Jeff Labrecque
While Cooper never breaches his father's surliness, his Sedaris-like tellings of Dad's quixotic adventures--such as the time he attacked the water-meter reader with a potato peeler--uncover love even in the most somber and embarrassing of circumstances.
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Favorable
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Kirkus Reviews
A graceful memoir filled with pain, regret, confusion and wonder. [1 Dec 2005, p.1262]
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Favorable
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LA Weekly Justin Clark
A poignantly lucid memoir.
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Favorable
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Library Journal Valeda F. Dent
Overall, this is a fine book held together by the attention to detail and Cooper's ability to present painful experiences with a touch of humor. [15 Feb 2006, p.125]
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Favorable
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Publishers Weekly
Stirring yet never saccharine, this memoir excavates a fraught history without once collapsing into cliche. [7 Nov 2005, p.66]
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