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Description of  The Splendid Things We Planned: A Family Portrait

A National Book Critics Circle Award Finalist 'Autobiography' The renowned biographers unforgettable portrait of a family in ruinshis own. Meet the Baileys: Burck, a prosperous lawyer once voted the American Legions Citizen of the Year in his tiny hometown of Vinita, Oklahoma his wife Marlies, who longs to recapture her festive life in Greenwich Village as a fetching young German immigrant, fresh off the boat their addled son Scott, who repeatedly crashes the family Porsche and Blake, the younger son, trying to find a way through the storm. Youre gonna be just like me, a drunken Scott taunts him. Youre gonna be worse. Winner of the National Book Critics Circle Award and finalist for the Pulitzer Prize, Blake Bailey has been hailed as addictively readable (New York Times) and praised for his ability to capture lives compellingly and in harrowing detail (Time). The Splendid Things We Planned is his darkly funny account of growing up in the shadow of an erratic and increasingly dangerous brother, an exhilarating and sometimes harrowing story that culminates in one unforgettable Christmas.