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Big House: A Century in the Life of an American Summer Home
Big House A Century in the Life of an American Summer Home
Author: George Howe Colt
In this intimate and poignant history of a sprawling century-old summer house on Cape Cod, George Howe Colt reveals not just one family's fascinating story but a vanishing way of life. Faced with the sale of the treasured house where he had spent forty-two summers, Colt returned for one last August with his wife and young children. The Big Ho...  more » the author's loving tribute to his one-of-a-kind family home, interweaves glimpses of that elegiac final visit with memories of earlier summers spent at the house and of the equally idiosyncratic people who lived there over the course of five generations. Built by Colt's great-grandfather one hundred years ago on a deserted Cape Cod peninsula, the house is a local landmark (neighboring children know it as the Ghost House): a four-story, eleven-bedroom jumble of gables, bays, sloped roofs, and dormers. The emotional home of the Colt family, the Big House has watched over five weddings, four divorces, and three deaths, along with countless anniversaries, birthday parties, nervous breakdowns, and love affairs. Beaten by wind and rain, insulated by seaweed, it is both romantic and run-down, a symbol of the faded glory of the Boston Brahmin aristocracy. With a mixture of amusement and affection, Colt traces the rise and fall of this tragicomic social class while memorably capturing the essence of summer's ephemeral pleasures: sailing, tennis, fishing, rainy-day reading. Time seems to stand still in a summer house, and for the Colts the Big House always seemed an unchanging place in a changing world. But summer draws to a close, and the family must eventually say good-bye. Elegant and evocative, The Big House is both magical and sad, a gift to anyone who holds cherished memories of summer.
ISBN-13: 9781417665358
ISBN-10: 1417665351
Rating:
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0 stars, based on 0 rating
Publisher: Topeka Bindery
Book Type: Hardcover
Other Versions: Paperback
Members Wishing: 0
Reviews: Member | Amazon | Write a Review

Top Member Book Reviews

heartinthehighlands avatar reviewed Big House: A Century in the Life of an American Summer Home on + 54 more book reviews
Helpful Score: 14
I first read this from the library. Then I went out and bought a copy of my own. This is a wonderful book. And a great one for summer reading. This American summer home is very upper class and my roots are very middle class, and yet it brought back all kinds of memories of our summers spent in a small rented cottage. The themes of family and growing up and attachment to place are universal. It is a book I want to read again and again. It is touching and real and well-written.
katzpawz avatar reviewed Big House: A Century in the Life of an American Summer Home on + 281 more book reviews
Helpful Score: 11
The gentleman has a way with words! The long, interesting story of a family history and the house it was lived in. This is NOT a story about what might have happened in a house - this IS the story of the house and it's obvious that the author is deeply in love with the house and his family history. Presented beautifully.
reviewed Big House: A Century in the Life of an American Summer Home on + 60 more book reviews
Helpful Score: 9
This is a wonderfully written book. Colt wanders through several generations talking about his family's experiences at their Cape Cod summer home. It is a book that can be picked up and put down without concern for losing the plot. Each chapter stands alone and is interesting on its own.
readerholic avatar reviewed Big House: A Century in the Life of an American Summer Home on
Helpful Score: 6
Very good. Loved the family history. Hard to put down.
cowbelle avatar reviewed Big House: A Century in the Life of an American Summer Home on + 5 more book reviews
Helpful Score: 5
Do yourself a favor and give this book a chance to work its magic on you. When I first started this book I surmised that someone was attempting to turn a thesis on old Cape Cod residential architecture into a novel to earn some money. Once into the book I wanted to apologize for those thoughts.
The author was actually describing this wonderful home in loving detail so that when
he takes you inside, you will understand and be ready to share, in some small way the living, loving nostalgia that is so rich you can feel it, smell it, and delight in
those magnifcent summers.
The author captures so much of his glorious childhood summers I want to rent a place on Wing's Neck for the summer! And, I must admit I've surfed the internet looking for rentals and dreaming of such a time and place this book gave me.
Thank you George Howe Colt for sharing your story. How many times have we all said,
"If only these walls could talk." You are indeed a great voice for the walls of The Big House.
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bookcrazychick avatar reviewed Big House: A Century in the Life of an American Summer Home on + 76 more book reviews
Loved this book. I've always been fascinated by the wealthy WASP culture and this delivers a heaping dose of it! Lot of history too of the area. Very interesting.
reviewed Big House: A Century in the Life of an American Summer Home on + 12 more book reviews
This was a delightful book about one man's memories of a family summer home on Cape Cod. The characters came to life through his memories of years ago when he was a child enjoying his summers.