To the Life of the Silver Harbor: Edmund Wilson and Mary McCarthy on Cape Cod
"Although he is the prismatic lens through which we see Wilson and McCarthy, Mr. Reuel has kept the focus squarely on his parents. He is not shy about giving his point of view, but he is genuinely concerned with broadening and deepening our understanding of these fascinating and complex people. Clearly, they were not the easiest of parents to be around, but this book is truly a whining-free zone, about as far as you can get from a Mommie Dearest sort of memoir . . . References to autobiographical and biographical sources are exhaustively referenced and even footnoted, all very useful as a guide to those readers who will doubtless be stimulated by this book to read more about Wilson and McCarthy. Mr. Reuel is not shy about correcting or adding to the record where necessary: After all he has a unique vantage point and authority to do so. But he consistently does so with a quiet grace all his own, a quality which would have greatly benefited his choleric father and contrary mother and those around them . . . Clearly this was one child who was far better off with divorced parents than if their battlefield of a marriage had continued throughout his childhood. Perhaps this is the root of his mellow view of them and Cape Cod, the scene of so much of his life with Mom and Dad." --Washington Times"One might say that [Edmund Wilson and Mary McCarthy's son Reuel had a front-row seat on the most exciting couple of the day. Rather than just recite the litany of their flare-ups, Reuel does something remarkable in this era of repressed memories. He offers a loving portrait of each parent, together and alone . . . Magical memories, apparently, and because of them, we have this little gem of a book."--The Sunday Republican (Waterbury, CT)