A review by onejordo
The Splendid Things We Planned: A Family Portrait by Blake Bailey

3.0

Talk about dysfunction! If you need to read about a family who doesn’t get along well so that you can realize maybe your own family is not all that bad – this is probably the book for you.

Blake and Scott grew up with an abusive German mother and a lawyer father. They were provided for, attended school, had almost normal childhoods, and grew up carrying their demons through adulthood. The story is a memoir mostly about Scott and the crazy things that occur in his life. Blake has a love/hate relationship with his brother. Still, he tells the story of his big brother’s life as fairly as he can.

There is some graphic content in this book but nothing terribly offensive or too detailed. The book certainly does a good job of taking the glamor out of drinking and using drugs. I enjoy memoirs so I’m glad I read this. I don’t want to reread it, but it was appealing enough for me to read it quickly.