The Splendid Things We Planned: A Family Portrait

by Blake Bailey

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Book cover for The Splendid Things We Planned

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Meet the Baileys: Burck, a prosperous lawyer once voted the American Legion’s “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 pretty 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. “You’re gonna be just like me,” a drunken Scott taunts him. “You’re 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.

  • ISBN10 0393239578
  • ISBN13 9780393239577
  • Publish Date 4 April 2014 (first published 3 March 2014)
  • Publish Status Out of Print
  • Out of Print 30 April 2021
  • Publish Country US
  • Imprint WW Norton & Co
  • Format Hardcover
  • Pages 272
  • Language English