Synopses & Reviews
“Funny and defiant.” -
Los Angeles TimesIn the privileged world of old-money New York aristocracy, young Matt Rothschild stuck out like a menorah at a Christmas party. Jewfroed, chubby, and sexually confused, Matt passed time secretly wearing his grandmothers dresses, shoplifting Barbies from FAO Schwarz, and inventing imaginary midget butlers whom he addressed at dinner parties. Kicked out of nearly every elite school in Manhattan-once for his impersonation of Judy Garland at a recital-Matt knew his days in his nineteen-room Fifth Avenue apartment were numbered.
But just when it looked as if Matt was about to drown in a sea of Paris Hilton wannabes, his grandmother Sophie, a glamorous, potty-mouthed dowager in killer stilettos, steps in, dismisses the nanny, and decides to raise him herself. Seeing her grandsons upbringing as a way to atone for the mistakes she made as a mother, Sophie takes his hand and guides him through their world of name-dropping phonies, family connections, and children who have to raise themselves. Gradually, Sophie allows Matt to learn the truth about the mother who left him, the woman who raised him, and the challenges we all face, no matter how exclusive or unusual our origins may seem.
Matt Rothschild tells his story with humor, candor, and unlikely compassion for his eccentric relatives-including his mother-in this bitingly entertaining and unexpectedly tender memoir.
“With genuine affection and brutal honesty, [Rothschild] paints vivid, delightful portraits of the colorful characters who crossed his path.” -USA Today
Synopsis
What fresh hell is this? The only Jewish family in a luxury Fifth Avenue building of WASPs, the senior Rothschilds took over the responsibility of raising their grandson, Matt, after his mother left him for Italy and a fourth husband. But rearing Matt was no small task--even for his sharp-tongued grandmother, a cross between Lauren Bacall and Bea Arthur, and a lady who Matt grew to love deeply.
Matt secretly wore his grandmother's dresses, shoplifted Barbies from FAO Schwarz, invented an imaginary midget butler who he addressed at dinner parties, and got kicked out of nearly every elite school in Manhattan--once for his impersonation of Judy Garland at a recital. He was eventually sent to a boarding school (his grandmother had to ransom off a van Gogh to get him in). But as funny as his hijinks are now, at the time they masked a Jewfroed, chubby, lovable kid, sexually confused and abandoned by his mother, trying to fit in among the precious genteel world he was forced to live in.
Matt Rothschild--the man David Sedaris could havebeen if he'd grown up in an esteemed family on Manhattan's Upper East Side--tells the story of his childhood with humor, honesty, and unlikely compassion for his eccentric relatives, including his mother, in this bitingly entertaining and unexpectedly tender memoir of family dysfunction.
From the Hardcover edition.
About the Author
MATT ROTHSCHILD currently lives on the cusp of gentrification in Orlando, Florida, with his adopted boxer, Baron (the only dog whos ever loved him). He teaches English and journalism at an urban high school.