Apologize, Apologize!

By Elizabeth Kelly

Book Overview

A dazzling debut novel about the family that puts the personality in disorder.
Apologize, Apologize takes us into the perversely charmed world of the Flanagans and their son, Collie (who has the questionable good fortune to be named after a breed of dog). Coming of age on Martha's Vineyard, he struggles to find his place within his wildly wealthy, hyper-articulate, resolutely crazy Irish-Catholic family: a philandering father, incorrigible brother, pigeon-racing uncle, radical activist mother, and domineering media mogul grandfather (accused of being a murderer by Collie's mother). It is a world where chaos is exhilaratingly constant, where money is of no object. And yet it is a world where the things Collie wants-understanding, stability, a sense of belonging-cannot be bought for any price. Through his travails, we realize what it really means to grow up and also to grow into one's family: finding to find ways to see them anew, to forgive them, and to be forgiven in turn.

In prose that is lively, humorous, and brilliant throughout, Elizabeth Kelly gives us the dysfunctional-family novel to end all dysfunctional-family novels, finding the comedy and pathos in her characters' struggles, and showing beautifully how a family's love can be as trying as it is true.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0446406155
• ISBN13: 9780446406154
• Release Date: March 2010
• Publisher: Twelve
• Length: 336 Pages
• Weight: 0.66 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.9" x 5.2" x 7.9"

Customer Reviews

Very Funny Book

I love a good book about dysfunctional families. This is definitely a good one.

Engaging, fun whirlwind read

"When you find yourself regularly substituting dog spit for shampoo, successful adulthood seems about as attainable as a gold medal in synchronized swimming." One of the thousands of fun, interesting sentences in this one of a kind book. Thank you!

manic and magical

This book is a the best kind of a read. You will think about ALL the main characters and wish some of your own family had just a touch of the madness in these pages. Wonderful dogs, a mother that bites with language, a cooking, crazy uncle, drinking dad, and a famous grandfather try raising two boys. Dark moments, yes, but relationships and conversations to be treasured.

Best book this Year!

Ever so often we stumble on a book that leaves us with that feeling that we don't want the story to end. This is definitely one of those books! I thought this book was the best one I've read in long time. Collie Flanagan has a quirky, crazy, sometimes charming and definitely bizarre family. As he grows up in this family and he suffers some setbacks and some tragedies, his family doesn't change with him. They remain the same quirky, crazy people and he soon realizes that their support doesn't give him the answers he is seeking. Collie branches out in directions that he feels will help him cope, only to return to his family with none of his issues resolved. The family becomes the distraction he needs to get his life back on track. You will love this book!

Wonderful, wonderful!

The biggest compliment I can give this book is that I could not put it down! The heartbreaking story of Collie Flanagan's life is a page turner. Around every corner of Collie's life there waits turmoil, humor and at times, child abuse. Ms. Kelly's characters are so perfectly written and she creates every nuance of their personality that you almost feel as if it's a biography rather than fiction. She is adept on so many levels in this book and her prose deserves praise for creating a story that comes to life on the page. Throughout this novel I kept thinking of John Irving because his influence was apparent. But that is all it is--just an influence. "Apologize,Apologize!" is totally a fresh, unique, quirky tale of dysfunctional families that grabs you from page one and carries you to the end leaving you wishing for more. I believe Ms. Kelly is off to a great start and if she continues this quality of writing along with imaginative story telling, she will be very successful. It is hard to believe that this is her first novel. I look forward to reading more of her novels in the future.