Why Not Say What Happened?: A Memoir by Ivana Lowell (English) Paperback Book

The Nile on eBay   Why Not Say What Happened? by Ivana Lowell

Born into one of the most celebrated Anglo-Irish families, the Guinnesses, Ivana Lowell grew up at the whim of two literary heavyweights—her mother, writer Lady Caroline Blackwood, and stepfather, poet Robert Lowell. Now, with an incisive eye and a wicked sense of humor, she shares the stories we've always wanted to hear. She tells of following the famous authors from one crumbling, drafty country house to another, and of summers spent with madcap relatives such as her maternal grandmother, the Marchioness of Dufferin and Ava, and her "old friend," the Queen Mother. But Ivana also has darker stories to tell: about her childhood accident, about her own stints in rehab, and, finally, about discovering the secret Lady Caroline had successfully kept from Ivana her entire life.

FORMATPaperback LANGUAGEEnglish CONDITIONBrand New Author Biography

Ivana Lowell grew up in London, Boston, and New York. She now lives in Sag Harbor with her daughter.

Review

"A frank and, at times, comic account of growing up amid extreme privilege and eccentric personalities." —Vanity Fair "A riveting history of a family that folds in on itself, consuming generation after generation. . . . Lowell's compact, finely tuned paragraphs render the saga with brave urgency and courage." —Elle "Lowell movingly shows how a child's love can transcend a parent's flaws. Her empathy with her mother may be her greatest gift." —The New York Times Book Review "For a woman whose legacy carries an enormous fortune, a family tree cluttered with renown, and unparalleled eccentricity, Ivana Lowell is shockingly all right. . . . An impeccable memoir." —The Daily Beast "Ivana Lowell's memoir is a heart-breaking account of a gifted woman, her brilliant but destructive parents, and a glamorous, aristocratic life that was laced with arsenic. That she survived and now shines as literary force in her own right is apparent from the very first page. Why Not Say What Happened? is a tour de force." —Amanda Foreman, author of Georgiana: Duchess of Devonshire"Compelling. . . . Careless hardly covers the reckless disregard with which these people treated those they supposedly loved." —The Boston Globe "Lowell takes her spot in the pantheon of modern-day heiresses with this memoir about her unbelievable life." —More "Will no doubt raise eyebrows. Lowell spares few details in recounting her dysfunctional childhood, which was spent in grand houses and fancy apartments, where the family lived more like hillbillies than titled Brits." —W "Lowell's true achievement may lie in the unassuming way she communicates the resilience of a woman whose trials—she was sexually abused at six by her nanny's husband, was severely burned in a childhood kitchen accident and has struggled for decades to conquer alcoholism—might have done in most people."  —The New York Times "An exhilarating roller-coaster ride of a book, full of the sort of wonderfully terrible secrets writers seldom have the guts to tell, let alone with such an assured and beguiling candor—but then of course, Ivana's Irish and a born writer ."  —John Richardson, author of A Life of Picasso"Searing." —The New York Observer "[Lowell's] recollections of sexual abuse, a disfiguring childhood accident, rampant neglect, and alcoholism—as well as her lifelong quest to discover her true paternity—could have made for grim reading, but Lowell's writing remains conversational and refreshingly free of self-pity." —Entertainment Weekly "At its heart, Why Not Say What Happened?, whose title comes from one of Robert Lowell's final, bleakest poems, is a portrait of a family in freefall, a mother and her four children floating through a dizzying succession of grand but rotting houses while enduring absent fathers, sexual abuse, mental breakdown, severe injury, alcoholism and the deaths of loved ones. The only thing fending off complete devastation is the author's gleefully black sense of humor." —The Telegraph (London) "With walk-on parts from everyone from the Queen Mother and artist Lucian Freud to film mogul Harvey Weinstein, this book is packed with color. A brilliant memoir." —Voyager "[Ivana] tells her story with verve and wit, and I loved every minute of it." —Ann LaFarge, Hudson Valley News"Shocking and hilarious, this elegantly lucid memoir by Ivana Lowell is that lethal mix of British aristocracy, giant fortunes, huge freezing houses, beautiful women jagged with sophistication, pedophilia, mysterious paternity, cruelty and yes, cocktails. We are reminded of the plays of Oscar Wilde and novels from Ronald Firbank to Evelyn Waugh as we are introduced to a lively and unlikely mix that includes the Queen Mother and Harvey and Bob Weinstein. . . . Lowell is impressive and touching in sparing us none of this tragicomedy, least of all herself." —Mike Nichols

Review Quote

"An exhilarating roller-coaster ride of a book, full of the sort of wonderfully terrible secrets writers seldom have the guts to tell, let alone with such an assured and beguiling candor-but then of course, Ivana's Irish and a born writer ." -John Richardson, author of A Life of Picasso, volumes 1-3 "Ivana Lowell's memoir is a heart-breaking account of a gifted woman, her brilliant but destructive parents, and a glamorous, aristocratic life that was laced with arsenic. That she survived and now shines as literary force in her own right is apparent from the very first page. Why Not Say What Happened? is a tour de force." -Amanda Foreman, author of Georgiana: Duchess of Devonshire "Shocking and hilarious, this elegantly lucid memoir by Ivana Lowell is that lethal mix of British aristocracy, giant fortunes, huge freezing houses, beautiful women jagged with sophistication, pedophilia, mysterious paternity, cruelty and yes, cocktails. We are reminded of the plays of Oscar Wilde and novels from Ronald Firbank to Evelyn Waugh as we are introduced to a lively and unlikely mix that includes the Queen Mother and Harvey and Bob Weinstein. I am not making this up. The startling thing is how recent all this is and how extreme. Lowell is impressive and touching in sparing us none of this tragicomedy, least of all herself." -Mike Nichols "Ivana Lowell's Why Not Say What happened? is a particularly lucid memoir of growing up in simultaneous extremes of privilege and neglect. The book is a riveting history of a family that folds in on itself, consuming generation after generation with money, power, alcoholism, and profound selfishness and emotional disconnection. Lowell's compact, finely tuned paragraphs render the saga with brave urgency and courage, and while the import and impact of events is horrifyingly clear, there's an absence of melodrama to the telling and a deep compassion-call it love-for those who failed the author so miserably." -A. M. Homes, Elle "Her recollections . . . could have made for grim reading, but Lowell's writing remains conversational and refreshingly free of self-pity." -Leah Greenblatt, Entertainment Weekly "The tales she recounts about her upbringing range from tender to funny to outright absurd . . . [She has] a wry, unblunted grip on her life story . . . Lowell has executed an impeccable memoir." -Claire Howorth, The Daily Beast "[A] clear-eyed chronicle . . ." - Town & Country From the Hardcover edition.

Excerpt from Book

Chapter 1 I have recently started going to a new shrink. She is the latest on a list of many. She is British, straightforward, and cozily plump. The sort of woman you want to sit down with, have a nice cup of tea and a bit of a chat. "You have been so bumped and knocked around," she told me after hearing just a little of my history, "that it''s a wonder you survived at all." I certainly don''t feel like a "wonder." In fact, I feel that I have fucked up my life. I have spent so long trying to avoid feeling the pain and anxiety that lie so close to the surface of my skin. Alcohol, antidepressants, and stints in rehabs have done little to alleviate the feelings of desperation. The worst thought I have is that it is too late, that perhaps I am too damaged ever to be fixed. I have spent so much of my life floundering. Now that I am a mother, however, I have grown up a bit and become brave enough to look back and try to make some sense of the past. Dysfunctional does not even begin to describe my family and upbringing. Anyway, that is far too easy a word to use-who doesn''t come from some kind of dysfunction? But what part of my history has so ill-equipped me to function in adulthood? "You do know who your real father was. Don''t you?" Maybe I had been given a clue to solve a puzzle that I never knew even existed. on paper it all looks so perfect, so glamorous, so privileged, and interesting. I come from a fabled background. My mother was born into a family that was wealthy, aristocratic, and good-looking. My grandmother was one of three sisters whom the society pages dubbed "the glorious Guinness girls." All three were beautiful, charming, and, thanks to the popularity of the black stout beer whose name they bore, very rich. They were also spoiled, selfish, and uneducated. They were born during an era when it was deemed unnecessary for a young lady to be equipped with anything other than nice manners and good child-bearing hips. Education was considered unimportant. My great-grandfather the Honorable Arthur Edward Guinness was by all accounts an unattractive character. I have heard many stories that illustrate his extravagant and boorish behavior. My mother''s favorite was when "Granddaddy" purchased his own private airplane. He knew very little about flying but on a whim one day decided to take the plane out for a little spin. Unfortunately, when he jumped into the cockpit he failed to notice that the plane''s mechanic was still working on top of one of the wings. The mechanic was killed immediately after the plane took off, but my great-grandfather ignored this little inconvenience and continued his flight undaunted. Because of his great wealth some of these more despicable acts were labeled as merely eccentric, and as far as I know he never suffered any repercussions or consequences. At that time he also owned one of the largest yachts ever built. He decided that his girls should see the world, and so he embarked with my grandmother and my two great-aunts on a sailing trip that lasted most of their formative years. Their lives up to that point had been untouched by reality, and the long sea voyage only removed them further from any semblance of normality. As a young girl my grandmother was waited on hand and foot, a practice that she made sure continued until her death at ninety-four. If she needed to go to the lavatory, a maid would warm up the toilet seat before "Miss Maureen" was allowed to sit down. When the girls came out as debutantes, they were in possession of cash and good looks, but they needed class to be accepted at the highest level of English society. My grandmother found it in the form of the Marquess of Dufferin and Ava. Basil Dufferin was young, handsome, and eligible. His grandfather the first marquess had been viceroy in India and governor general of Canada. He had arguably been Britain''s most accomplished diplomat of the nineteenth century. Basil himself had done brilliantly at Oxford and was generally expected to go on to do great things. The huge society marriage between the dashing young marquess and the vivacious Guinness heiress at Saint Margaret''s Cathedral in London was seemingly made in Debrett''s heaven. along with his title, my grandfather had inherited a large, gray stone Georgian house and estate in the north of Ireland. On a man-made shamrock-shaped lake and surrounded by acres and acres of parkland, Clandeboye House was the childhood home of my mother and her younger sister and brother. After the three children were born, their glamorous parents continued their exhaustive socializing and entertaining. Both were overly fond of drink (something that is a recurring theme in my family), and they were at the epicenter of the decadent, hedonistic social life of London in the 1930s. My grandparents and their set cavorted with the fastest, grandest, and most brilliant people that England had to offer, statesmen, royalty, literary figures, and a scattering of talented snobs. Cecil Beaton, Evelyn Waugh, Frederick Ashton, and N

Details ISBN0307387402 Author Ivana Lowell Short Title WHY NOT SAY WHAT HAPPENED Series Vintage Language English ISBN-10 0307387402 ISBN-13 9780307387400 Media Book Format Paperback DEWEY B Year 2011 Publication Date 2011-11-01 Subtitle A Memoir Place of Publication New York Country of Publication United States AU Release Date 2011-11-01 NZ Release Date 2011-11-01 US Release Date 2011-11-01 UK Release Date 2011-11-01 Pages 320 Publisher Random House USA Inc Imprint Random House Inc Illustrations 16 PP. B&W Audience General We've got this

At The Nile, if you're looking for it, we've got it.With fast shipping, low prices, friendly service and well over a million items - you're bound to find what you want, at a price you'll love!

TheNile_Item_ID:37464683;