![]() He goes to the right school (Harvard), is selected by the right society (Signet), writes for the right magazines (Spy, the New Yorker). ![]() His stitch-welted surgical scars looked like a shark's bite." Later, describing a family friend enjoying a swim, "his stomach shining whitely like a tiny arctic kingdom." Oh, reader, you are in for a treat.įriend is born into privilege: summer houses, maids, private schools, ditzy relatives, "dumbwaiters and foot bells under the dining-room rug," all great fun to read about. Class envy? A tad (cough), maybe, but short-lived.īe reassured: Tad Friend does fall far enough from the tree to give us a delightfully rendered account of not only his self-discovery but an examination of "The Last Days of Wasp Splendor." It is gorgeously written: About an Australian he meets during his travels, "He had the bleared eyes of the blackout drunk. So reader, a caveat though not a deterrent: Everybody on this tree is named for somebody else on it, then given nicknames, I suppose to distinguish them from earlier generations although sometimes the nicknames are the same, too: "Timmie," "Addie," "Paddy." Not only do people in the family get renamed, often they pick up new ones: "Theodore," Tad's father, is also "Day" and "Dorie." Add to that "Goggy," "Gah," and "Inky," and anyone might become confused, even a bit irritated. The family tree (which covers two pages), Friend tells us is "somewhat simplified." I mention this tree because even simplified it threatens our enjoyment of what turns out to be a splendid book. "Cheerful Money" is full to bursting with Family. Tad Friend looked back and he has written a book for all of us. But no matter our religion, our ethnicity, our culture, at some point we must reckon with the truth that our families are our fate - not all of it, thank heaven, but enough so that it behooves us to look back on those who made us, painful though that might be. By Tad Friend (Little, Brown 353 pages $24.99)
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