Looks Like Howard | 
 enlarge | Author: Patricia Kambitsch
Publisher: Behler Publications
Category: Book
List Price: $13.95
Buy New: $9.05
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Avg. Customer Rating:  6 reviews
Sales Rank: 1623695
Media: Paperback
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 170
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.3
Dimensions (in): 8.3 x 5.4 x 0.1
ISBN: 1933016485
Dewey Decimal Number: 306.8742092
EAN: 9781933016481
ASIN: 1933016485
Publication Date: March 1, 2008
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Shipping: International shipping available
Condition: Brand New, Perfect Condition, Please allow 4-14 business days for delivery. 100% Money Back Guarantee, Over 1,000,000 customers served.
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Product Description
Ever since I ve known Howard, he s been dead. Author, Patricia Kambitsch, tells the true story of her father whose untimely death spurred a lifetime of storytelling. However dead he may be, Howard, the mild-mannered, ueber-geek hero, thrives through the collective imagination of his widow and six children. Questions of what really happened to her father give way to fantasy suspicions that include the questionable next-door neighbor who was last seen with her father, secret government projects, and alien abduction. Tales range from imaginative family antics at graveside, to bullying in the bathtub, to playing Jesus on the sidewalk. In the end, answers to the questions become less important than truths revealed through the re-creation of the past through a shared mythology.
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| Customer Reviews: Read 1 more reviews...
Look Like Brilliance June 30, 2008
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
One of the best and most entertaining reads I've had in quite some time. Sure, it was extra-special reading a memoir that took place in familiar home-territory, with so-familiar-that-it's-scary parallels that happen in many large, Catholic family settings.....but mostly it's just beautiful imagination shining onto paper, weaving a tapestry of humor, wackiness, honesty, awareness and insight to which many readers will instantly relate. The ending was unexpected and delightful (gave me chills, actually). I look forward to more titles by this author in the future!
A Winner March 28, 2008
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
A powerful read -- packed with self-deprecating humor, fantastic turns of phrase,incredible emotion, and insightful revelations arising from mundane everyday life. And best of all,the ending is especially satisfying even though (and maybe because) it's not wrapped up with a perfect bow. This book is enjoyable not only because Kambitsch's writing is fantastic, but also because the story is compelling and vibrant in a very believable way.
 Funny and poignant November 10, 2006
I really enjoyed this book. Ms. Kambitsch (rhymes with damn bitch! (-:) reveals a fascinating childhood and coming-of-age in this funny, yet poignant memoir. If you ever get to Dayton, OH, she enacts scenes from Shaggy Hair in occasional performance art with Maribeth -- you just have to read the book!
If David Sedaris was a little girl October 31, 2006
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
... In the 1960's, this might be the story he would write. Except Patricia Kambitsch makes it clear when this memoir extends into the occasional fictional fantasy. And her brilliance of fantasy reflects a sensitive adult that can inhabit and feel deeply for the little girl experiencing the tragedies of her youth, but not understanding them at the time.
The crux of the story (why you should read this) is that she reates such a vivid sense of how children view their own lives, that you may relive the wonder of your own childhood through new eyes she bestows upon you, the reader. She revives the immediacy of experience and the meaningfulness of everything and anything - a word, a pet, a blanket - as a child sees them at the time of experience. Her adult reflections bring the edge of humor to the story, where all the real-world characters of one's life - big siblings, parent, neighbors - are portrayed with a biting comedy originating from years of storymaking and empathy.
So, if David Sedaris had been born a girl in the 60's, he might be as funny as this, but we would would not have the incredible fantasies recreated here, speaking with the truth of self-told fictions in a real and rich inner life.
Funny and touching October 12, 2006
3 out of 3 found this review helpful
In this memoir, Kambitsch really nails the smallest moments of family and childhood all under the shadow of her dead father. It sounds like a sad story from the outside. Six children left fatherless, a grieving, lovely widow left to fend for them all.
But it's not what you think.
What makes this book different from the typical early childhood trauma memoir is Kambitsch's irreverent and hilarious narrating voice. She has all the flair of an author like David Sedaris and his underhanded humor, and she is able to capture the conversations, the rules of the childhood games (like "Playing Jesus"), and the portraits of her family that really make the story pop.
Kambitsch sneaks in some poignant and sad issues and then tears them apart with her sarcastic and straightforward humor. In the end, you will love this family for their imperfections.
It's refreshingly subtle and smart writing.
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