Critics' Opinion:
Readers' rating:
Published Feb 2014
240 pages
Genre: Biography/Memoir
Publication Information
From the New York Times bestselling author of The Middle Place comes a new memoir that examines the bond - sometimes nourishing, sometimes exasperating, occasionally divine - between mothers and daughters.
When Kelly Corrigan was in high school, her mother neatly summarized the family dynamic as "Your father's the glitter but I'm the glue." This meant nothing to Kelly, who left childhood sure that her mom - with her inviolable commandments and proud stoicism - would be nothing more than background chatter for the rest of Kelly's life, which she was carefully orienting toward adventure. After college, armed with a backpack, her personal mission statement, and a wad of traveler's checks, she took off for Australia to see things and do things and Become Interesting.
But it didn't turn out the way she pictured it. In a matter of months, her fanny pack full of savings had dwindled and she realized she needed a job. That's how Kelly met John Tanner, a newly widowed father of two looking for a live-in nanny. They chatted for an hour, discussed timing and pay, and a week later, Kelly moved in. And there, in that house in a suburb north of Sydney, her mother's voice was suddenly everywhere, nudging and advising, cautioning and directing, escorting her through a terrain as foreign as any she had ever trekked. Every day she spent with the Tanner kids was a day spent reconsidering her relationship with her mother, turning it over in her hands like a shell, straining to hear whatever messages might be trapped in its spiral.
This is a book about the difference between travel and life experience, stepping out and stepping up, fathers and mothers. But mostly it's about who you admire and why, and how that changes over time.
"The author's fans and newcomers alike will welcome this story that probes the depths of mother-daughter bond." - Publishers Weekly
"Written in a breezy style with humor and heart, the book reminds us how rewarding it can be to see a parent outside the context of our own needs. It's that illumination that allows Corrigan to turn what starts as a complaint about her mother into a big thank you." - Kirkus
"I teared up so many times while reading Glitter and Glue, thinking, See? You never stop needing your mother. Yet with openhearted wisdom, Kelly Corrigan beautifully illustrates the idea that life goes on no matter what - and that even the impossible is always possible." - Vanessa Diffenbaugh, New York Times bestselling author of The Language of Flowers
"Some books you quite like, some you even love, but especially rare are the books that remind you what reading is for. Glitter and Glue is my favorite reminder. Nobody tells a more natural story - with more easy charm; with such personal warmth and style - than Kelly Corrigan." - Darin Strauss, award-winning author of Half a Life
"Kelly Corrigan parses the bittersweet complexities of motherhood with humor and grace. Her writing has depth and buoyancy and light. It's a river on a summer day. You slip into the current, laughing, and are carried away by it." - Mary Roach, New York Times bestselling author of Stiff and
"This book will make you laugh, it will make you cry, and I know that you will gobble it up in a single day, just like I did." - Ayelet Waldman, New York Times bestselling author of Bad Mother
"In this endearing, funny, and thought-provoking memoir, Kelly Corrigan's memories of long-ago adventures illuminate the changing relationships between mothers and children - as well as everything else that really matters." - Gretchen Rubin, New York Times bestselling author of The Happiness Project
"Kelly Corrigan's heartfelt homage to motherhood is every bit as tough and funny as it is nostalgic and searching. It's a tale about growing up, gaining wisdom, and reconciling with Mom (something we all must do eventually) but it's also an honest meditation on our deepest fears of death and abandonment." - Elizabeth Gilbert, New York Times bestselling author of Eat, Pray, Love
This information about Glitter and Glue was first featured
in "The BookBrowse Review" - BookBrowse's membership magazine, and in our weekly "Publishing This Week" newsletter. Publication information is for the USA, and (unless stated otherwise) represents the first print edition. The reviews are necessarily limited to those that were available to us ahead of publication. If you are the publisher or author and feel that they do not properly reflect the range of media opinion now available, send us a message with the mainstream reviews that you would like to see added.
Any "Author Information" displayed below reflects the author's biography at the time this particular book was published.
Kelly Corrigan is the author of The Middle Place and Lift, both New York Times bestsellers. She is also a contributor to O: The Oprah Magazine, Good Housekeeping, and Medium. Kelly co-founded Notes & Words, an annual benefit concert for Children's Hospital Oakland featuring writers and musicians onstage together. Her YouTube channel, which includes video essays like "Transcending" and interviews with writers like Michael Lewis and Anna Quindlen, has been viewed by millions. She lives in the Bay Area with her husband, Edward Lichty, their two daughters, and a poorly behaved chocolate lab, Hershey. Visit her at http://www.kellycorrigan.com
The House on Biscayne Bay
by Chanel Cleeton
As death stalks a gothic mansion in Miami, the lives of two women intertwine as the past and present collide.
The Stone Home
by Crystal Hana Kim
A moving family drama and coming-of-age story revealing a dark corner of South Korean history.
The Funeral Cryer by Wenyan Lu
Debut novelist Wenyan Lu brings us this witty yet profound story about one woman's midlife reawakening in contemporary rural China.
Your guide toexceptional books
BookBrowse seeks out and recommends the best in contemporary fiction and nonfiction—books that not only engage and entertain but also deepen our understanding of ourselves and the world around us.
