I’ve read this novel twice many years apart, and I’m still hard-pressed to think of many works as equally glorious. Able to capture great swaths of life, from everything I feared as a child—the strained suburban silences and amorphous defeat—to the restless pull of the grave. Every chapter offering the satisfactions of entire novels so that the reading experience is about savouring every line, every twitch of feeling. Cunningham able to make your own life feel precious enough for prose, its minutes saturated in meaning. An existence filled with “effervescence” and “gold-washed air.”

n  He was a dreamy boy who brought books home from the library, who sought hiding places where she could always find him.n

n  n

Michael Cunningham is one of those authors who almost never fail in delivering stories that are little pieces of art. In Flesh and Blood, we follow the very different members of a family from the 50s to the 90s. The father plays the role of the tyrant provider with a bad temper and misplaced love. The mother wants nothing more than peace among the people she loves, and is a kleptomaniac on the side. Susan is the perfect eldest daughter who secretly suffers from her father’s inappropriate love, Billy is a smartass and very intelligent homosexual who constantly fights with his ignorant father, and Zoe falls into the adventures of sex and drugs in New York – and is bff with a drag queen.

She lived in New York like Alice, thinking some day she’d go back to the other world.

It’s a beautiful little story, where we get under the skin of each family member. We learn to understand their motives and see their individual beauty. We see sides of them they can never show each other. And the writing is impressive – as all of Cunningham’s writing.

It was not déjà vu. Billy didn’t feel as if he’d seen all this before. He felt instead that it had been waiting for him, this strange perfection, and now that he was seeing it he was becoming someone new, someone particular, after the long confusion of his childhood.

And then we have the brutal darkness underneath, the real malfunction of the family, the abuse and the ruin of a child. The feeling of unjust guilt and the drastic decisions to escape the family and get a new life far away.

He wasn’t to blame, not really. She had started it and now it existed, a secret they shared. Saying no would have given it a name.

My blog: The Bookworm's Closet

4.5⭐
Cunningham may be an underrated or at least unheralded writer. He excels at writing from each character's perspective, whether it be a 7 y/o boy, 40 y/o drag queen, suburban housewife, or drug-addled youth. His stories are effortlessly written, yet poetic and full of the natural world and its rhythms. Raunchy, explicit, and dirty but also sympathetic, wise, and emotionally and intellectually satisfying.

right off the top i feel the need to confess: short stories are something i really struggle with as a reader. i tend to come away from reading them feeling as though something is not complete ("wait! that's it??") or, alternately, i spend a lot of time going "what the what just happened?!" so i totally realize i have a shortcoming in this department - but i am working on it.

i approached crummey's collection optimistically. i love him. (seriously!!) and i held hope that his beautiful use of language and evocation of place when writing would draw me in completely. while there were many stories i liked a lot in flesh and blood i am left wishing i loved it more. (my fault, i know!) i give the book 4-stars for the writing. my own overall enjoyment of the collection is more around 3-stars (which PAINS me to my core to say about crummey's work).

i loved the settings and the glimpses at mining life during the industry's decline. crummey is terrific at the nuances of family and community - both of which are important in these stories. i also liked how the location of black rock recurred, along with a character or two cropping up in different stories -- i definitely appreciated the continuity in these instances.

i do suspect i will be thinking about a few of the stories for quite some time... in particular, 'the measure', featuring nurse maggie dawe.

I loved this book (the only thing keeping it from five stars are a few of the chapters told from the perspective of a child, where I was frustrated by the adult language/thought processes). I wanted to keep reading it; I read it instead of doing things I ought to be doing like cleaning the house or sleeping. Its strength is the strength of Cunningham's characters - the reader finds himself falling in love with all of them, which is incredible considering their range of personality. You have the father, Constantine Stassos (what a name!), who is a Greek immigrant looking to make his fortune in America. He was raised harshly, the youngest in a family where the ends never quite met. Nothing was expected of him, and this relationship w/ his family shapes him and his relationship with his own family. He was raised to work hard, and this is the work ethic he brought to America, but he was always aware of his background and lack of education and sophistication; he always felt like less regardless of his wealth and success. You have the mother, Mary Cuccio, whose family were Italian immigrants, who desires above all things calm and civility and order, sometimes to the exclusion of messy emotional entanglements. It is almost as if she is waiting, constantly and forever, for her life to begin. She is filled with want, she wants beautiful things, she wants perfection.

Cunningham writes these pristine scenes, these tiny snapshots of time, these defining moments that serve as a marker or a turning point in the character's development. He packs so much meaning and poignancy into these short chapters - he portrays each character's life almost like a photo album. With each chapter the reader gets a new layer of the character, a new filter to apply to how the character is understood, that builds chapter by chapter. Unlike 3rd person omniscient writing where the reader follows the same perspective of a family through time, and time must be marked and key decisions explained, Cunningham marks time by noting the year of each chapter. It is incredible that one could pick up this book and read a single chapter at random, and learn something profound about a character.

This is the story of how blood is thicker than water, about how we are raised molds us as humans into who we become, how we might balk at that and strain against it (so much of both Susan's life and Billy's is about response to Constantine's treatment and expectations of them). It is about how history repeats itself (Constantine practices the same harsh fathering techniques on Billy with terrible impact; the family doesn't expect much and loses track of the youngest Zoe). It is about how we can deeply love people we never truly understand. And this - it is how we can love people who do things we hate. It is also a novel about how the expectations of society shape the way we look at ourselves, esp re: how we define success and happiness, sexual mores, etc - so many of these characters hate themselves.

I think that there are nods to Virginia Woolf in here, maybe in the sailing scene at the end of the novel?

Ok, now for the missing fifth star: Zoe is pregnant in 1982 w/ Jamal; he's a newborn in 1983. He's four in 1986. Ben is three years older. In 1992 Jamal is in the fifth grade and he's ~10. Would a ten-year-old say "It is my business; I'm breathing it too" to a smoker? Would a ten-year-old say "I needed to get out of there"? Would a ten-year-old say, "When we were kids"? Would a ten-year-old know how to "give comfort" to an older boy? How many twelve-year-old boys have sex?

"Tinha adoptado a sua voz mais sumida. Quando isso acontecia, era como se falasse com alguém que vivia dentro dela, um amigo invisível com quem partilhava a convicção de que o mundo era vasto e maravilhoso, mas, em última análise, demasiado extenuante para se viver nele."

"Jamal viveva in lui. (...) Non era amore, non quello che aveva immaginato fosse amore. Assomigliava di più a come aveva immaginato fosse il cancro, quello che aveva portato via la signora Marshall della casa accanto, una palla di cellule impazzite che, come diceva sua madre, l'avevano divorata. Come un cancro era lui e non era lui. Lo mangiava e sostituiva ciò che aveva mangiato con un'altra dose di se stesso."

Il secondo romanzo di Cunningham si presenta come un avvincente saga familiare sullo sfondo della società americana del '900. Cento anni raccontati attraverso tre generazioni. Una famiglia, ed una miriade di personaggi diversi, con le loro storie, i loro pensieri, le loro ossessioni, paure, angosce. I loro amori traditi, quelli finiti, e quelli sopravvissuti.
Pur essendo il romanzo che mi piace di meno - la prima parte, relativa all'odioso capofamiglia, mi ha annoiato - è una grande prova di capacità letteraria. Tanto per cominciare, può sembrare una pretesa difficile ed ingenua quella di raccontare cento anni di storia americana attraverso le vicende di una famiglia. Eppure, Cunningham ci riesce benissimo. Ha una straordinaria capacità di regia: pur essendoci una dozzina di personaggi, riesce a muoverli tutti, a disporli sulla scena, senza dimenticarne qualcuno, tutti vengono sempre caratterizzati a dovere. Sono personaggi profondissimi e assolutamente tridimensionali, diversissimi tra di loro: la gamma delle emozioni umane che viene qui suscitata e rappresentata è praticamente infinita.
Per il resto, mi unisco alle critiche che sovente vengono espresse su questo romanzo: una minore eleganza rispetto a "Le Ore" - del resto, si tratta pur sempre del suo secondo romanzo - e soprattutto una certa esagerazione nelle vicende - si tocca continuamente il tragico.
E' comunque un romanzo che colpisce, che lascia qualcosa, e col tempo sono sicuro che, per la sua impressionante fotografia del novecento statunitense, il suo valore verrà esaltato.

This spectacular gem from the 90s is by author Michael Cunningham who wrote the award winning The Hours. It was made into a highly acclaimed movie w Meryl Streep and Julianne Moore. Flesh and Blood is another winning achievement by this gifted writer. As I read this book, I experienced some of the most memorable prose I’ve ever witnessed. All this and a story about a dysfunctional family? Lol. It’s a win win situation. The characters are so real, I believe Cunningham is not only a writer but a master of psychology. This is difficult to achieve but the author pulls it off in a style that is unique and eye opening. The Stassos family portrayed in Flesh and Blood are probably like many families with issues but somehow with Cunningham’s touch, we are seeing everyday people in a very personal manner, not seen in most family sagas. Through the authors lens, we are introduced to many microcosms of life itself that most writers are not capable of portraying. Enjoy Constantine, Mary, Billy, Susan, Zoe....their trials and tribulations...as only a classical contemporary master of words can present.

Книга нового для мене автора. Анотації і відгуки були хороші, тож я почала. Слухала аудіокнижку, начитану Ігорем Князєвим. Він майстер, начитка дуже сподобалася.

Перед нами сімейна сага. Хлопчик Костянтин живе в Греції. Його сім'я дуже бідна, земля, якою вони володіють, дуже бідна і її настільки мало, що всі ледве виживають і працюють як прокляті. Костянтин теж мусить працювати, хоч ще і зовсім маленький. Проходить час і він переїжджає в США. Його минуле життя перестало для нього існувати. Нова країна, нові можливості, все старе забуте. Він одружується з Мері, яка італійка за походженням. Вона виходить заміж у 17 років, щоб вирватися зі своєї сім'ї. Костянтин спершу показаний як дуже несміливий залицяльник, але це міняється, коли вони одружуються. У них народжуються діти, і тут Костянтин показує себе як жорстокий і неврівноважений чоловік. Він легко виходить з себе, розкидає все навколо, кричить і б'ється. Про це потім шкодує, але не сильно. У них народжуються троє дітей. Всі різні. Старша Сьюзен гарна, шкільна принцеса, татова улюблениця і не тільки в переносному сенсі. Біллі - розумник, мамин син, який геть не такий, яким хоче бачити його батько, і врешті, він виростає зовсім відмінним від його сподівань. І Зої. Дівчинка, яку не розуміли і мало звертали уваги. Така вона і виросла - дикунка, дивачка, не від цього світу. Проходить час і діти Стассос вже заводять свої сім'ї, з'являються діти. Стосунки батьків і дітей змінюються, еволюціонують.

Каннінгем піднімає багато проблем, які на перший погляд здаються поверхневими, але після прочитання залишають глибокий слід. Те, як емігранти намагаються злитися з американцями, відкидаючи своє коріння, своє минуле життя. Від Греції у сім'ї Стассос залишилося лише прізвище. Вони рідко бачаться з родичами Мері і ніколи не згадують те, що Костянтин залишив позаду. Мері щоразу нагадує чоловіку: Ми американці, Коне. Називають дітей американськими іменами. Лише з молодшою донькою Костянтину вдалося наполягти і назвати її як його бабусю. І старша донька, Сьюзен, всіма силами намагається втілювати американську мрію: виходить заміж за гарного хлопця зі своєї школи і веде найзвичайніше життя американської домогосподарки. Та от Біллі зовсім не такий, яким хоче бачити його батько: він гей, він проти батька, іде проти течії. Єдиному з сім'ї йому вдалося здобути освіту, але він іде всупереч батькам і відмовляється іти на вручення диплому. Він роздумував, чи не стати йому архітектором і продовжити справу батька, але він стає вчителем і вчить складних дітей. Він не одружується і не заводить дітей, його життя зовсім не таке, якого прагнули для нього його батьки. І нарешті Зої, наймолодша дитина. Вона вже точно є антисимволом американської мрії: не має жодних життєвих орієнтирів, заводить собі ліпшу подружку-трансвеститку, народжує від чорношкірого чоловіка, помирає від СНІДу. І саме син цієї жінки, яка являла собою суцільну помилку і провал устремлінь Кона і Мері, темношкірий син Зої на ім'я Джамаль виявився тим, хто зміг: отримав освіту, створив сім'ю, народив дітей, з любов'ю піклувався про свого дядька Вілла. Він гарно вписався в американську дійсність, він зміг.

Книга про батьків і дітей. Про добро і зло. І про те, що Вілл з усіма його особливостями виявився кращим батьком, ніж успішний і багатий Кон.

Хоч у романі і багато надто відвертих сцен, все ж, він мені сподобався. Почитаю ще щось цього автора.

This is my absolute favorite kind of book. It tells the story of a family over three generations, basically. I love the way the author is able to show the dysfunctional nature of the family, by going into each characters' head and describing their often conflicting thoughts. It's very realistic in that way, one minute a person feels one way, the next minute another, and then you see how they decide to act on their feelings.

I related to the story quite a bit, I am one of three siblings, born around the same time, and with many of the same issues as the characters in the novel. It has all of the themes necessary for a great story, love, lust, fear, illness, loss, prejudice, comfort, addiction, peace and finally resignation.

The book I kept thinking about as I read it is The Corrections, by Jonathan Franzen, although I finished Flesh and Blood feeling much better than I did after The Corrections. Flesh and Blood didn't leave me feeling down at all. I just wanted it to last a little longer.

çok güzeldi... karakterler geylerden, eksantrik kadınlardan, drag queenlerden, herhangi adamlardan ve herhangi kadınlardan oluşuyor. okurken her duyguyu yaşadım

Takie powieści określa się mianem sagi. To saga o rodzinie amerykańskiej, od lat 40 XX wieku aż do końca wieku. Sposób jej prowadzenia przypomina mi powieści Steinbecka i tak jak powieści Steinbecka, Cunningham ujmuje mnie łatwością nakreślenia charakteru bohaterów, ich uczuć i lęków.