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The Bill from My Father: A Memoir
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Binding: Paperback
Dewey Decimal Number: 813.54
EAN: 9780743249638
ISBN: 0743249631
Label: Simon & Schuster
Manufacturer: Simon & Schuster
Number Of Items: 1
Number Of Pages: 256
Publication Date: January 09, 2007
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Studio: Simon & Schuster
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Editorial Review:
Edward Cooper is a hard man to know.Dour and exuberant by turns, his moods dictate the always uncertain climate of the Cooper household. Balding, octogenarian, and partial to a polyester jumpsuit, Edward Cooper makes an unlikely literary muse. But to his son he looms larger than life, an overwhelming and baffling presence.
Edward's ambivalent regard for his son is the springboard from which this deeply intelligent memoir takes flight. By the time the author receives his inheritance (which includes a message his father taped to the underside of a safe deposit box), and sees the surprising epitaph inscribed on his father's headstone, The Bill from My Father has become a penetrating meditation on both monetary and emotional indebtedness, and on the mysterious nature of memory and love.
Customer Reviews
Average Rating: 
Rating:  - only a little bit of this book is worth reading
I read the whole thing--but only little bits of the book were worth the time it to read it.
Rating:  - Good, Not Great
Although it's beautifully written , I didn't enjoy this ode to his father near as much as 'Truth Serum'. There are some lovely keen observations about life and parents in general, yet not enough that made me feel it was truly special.
Rating:  - Homo Sapiens
Why is it incumbent on this gay author to insert his love affair into a memoir about his father? Why does he need to tell us how he wants to have sex with Brian into old age and pepper the book with their amorous advances to each other? Is it a homage to his lover? Did he promise to include him in his book? How does this not distract from the story he is telling us about his grizzled old dad?
It is no surprise that his father would not object too terribly to the author's decision not ... Read More
Rating: - Great read, but a generous helping of deja vu
Too bad Walter Matthau is dead. Otherwise, he would be a natural to play Bernard Cooper's father in the movie version of this bittersweet memoir.
In fact, didn't I see the tall, loud-mouthed actor playing a variant of this very part in "Hanging Up" and, of course, "The Sunshine Boys" ??
Also, I know that I read the section about Cooper pere's ill-fated marriage before. Either Bernard Cooper had published it as a short memoir elsewhere (the New Yorker?) or the situation was reported by some ... Read More
Rating:  - Truly enjoyable
I loved the entire book...My favorite story is when Bernard's father goes through a "fictitious phase" of marriage.
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