Blow your house down : a story of family, feminism, and treason
(Book - Regular Print)

Book Cover
Average Rating
Published
Berkeley, California : Counterpoint Press, 2021.
Edition
First hardcover edition.
Physical Desc
320 pages ; 24 cm
Status
Prescott Public Library - NF - Nonfiction Books
813.6 FRANGELLO
1 available
Yavapai College Prescott - LIMBO - Items being donated to other libraries
PS3606.R3757Z46 2021
1 available

More Details

Published
Berkeley, California : Counterpoint Press, 2021.
Format
Book - Regular Print
Edition
First hardcover edition.
Language
English

Notes

Description
"Gina Frangello is a long-married fortysomething devoted mom when her life is turned upside down by the sudden death of her closest friend. Worn down from years of caregiving both her elderly parents and three kids, Gina starts to interrogate her own mortality and what she once longed for as a younger woman : a kind of sexual, romantic and artistic intensity radically at odds with her comfortable but emotionally stagnant marriage. Falling into a passionate affair with a writer/musician, Gina begins living a shocking double life while continuing to outwardly project the image of having a "perfect family." As her parallel worlds begin to dangerously intersect, she makes the risky choice to leave her marriage and security in order to take a chance at finally becoming fully herself, midlife. However, when only months into her separation, Gina is diagnosed with breast cancer, her father dies, her divorce grows increasingly contentious and menacing, and her lover falls into a deep clinical depression, an inevitable breaking point approaches, revealing the irrevocable stakes of giving up everything for love, as well as what it means to be a woman in the contemporary American landscape. Examining pivotal moments in a complex family system about to implode, Blow Your House Down is about what happens when a woman who has been very good at playing all the roles society expects of her suddenly refuses to continue being the person her family and friends think they know. In a note from the author to her writing group, she wrote: "If we are all supposed to write the book we most need to read, then this is the book I wish I had had in front of me during the years my marriage was falling apart, the years I gave everything in me to my ailing parents and young children and angry husband until there seemed nothing left, the years I began a wildly selfish and euphoric affair that seemed to save me, the years I decided to leave my marriage but leaving ended up looking nothing like escape and instead like the end of the world, and the years that I was sick and in pain and having body parts removed at the speed of light and not knowing whether illness would destroy any new beginning I had fought so hard to find. This is the book I was so hungrily looking for, with all its brutality and grief and guilt and desire but didn't find. I hold in my head a woman who needs this book to save her own life.""--,Provided by publisher.
Description
Her life turned upside down by the sudden death of her closest friend, worn down from years of caregiving both her elderly parents and three kids, Frangello began to interrogate her own mortality. Falling into a passionate affair with a writer/musician, she began living a shocking double life while continuing to outwardly project the image of having a "perfect family." Making the risky choice to leave her marriage and security in order to take a chance at finally becoming fully herself, midlife, she was only months into her separation when she was diagnosed with breast cancer, her father died, her divorce grew contentious, and her lover fell into a deep clinical depression. Her memoir explores what happens when a woman who has been very good at playing all the roles society expects of her suddenly refuses to continue being the person her family and friends think they know. -- adapted from publisher info

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LocationCall NumberStatus
Prescott Public Library - NF - Nonfiction Books813.6 FRANGELLOFind It Now
Yavapai College Prescott - LIMBO - Items being donated to other librariesPS3606.R3757Z46 2021Find It Now

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Citations

APA Citation, 7th Edition (style guide)

Frangello, G. (2021). Blow your house down: a story of family, feminism, and treason (First hardcover edition.). Counterpoint Press.

Chicago / Turabian - Author Date Citation, 17th Edition (style guide)

Frangello, Gina. 2021. Blow Your House Down: A Story of Family, Feminism, and Treason. Counterpoint Press.

Chicago / Turabian - Humanities (Notes and Bibliography) Citation, 17th Edition (style guide)

Frangello, Gina. Blow Your House Down: A Story of Family, Feminism, and Treason Counterpoint Press, 2021.

MLA Citation, 9th Edition (style guide)

Frangello, Gina. Blow Your House Down: A Story of Family, Feminism, and Treason First hardcover edition., Counterpoint Press, 2021.

Note! Citations contain only title, author, edition, publisher, and year published. Citations should be used as a guideline and should be double checked for accuracy. Citation formats are based on standards as of August 2021.

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