Kookooland

(Hardback)

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Description

It's the 1960s in New Hampshire, and Gloria Norris is growing up in the projects with her family. A photo might show a happy, young family, but only a dummkopf would believe that. Jimmy's a wiseguy who relies on charm, wit and an unyielding belief that he's above the law; and his youngest daughter, Gloria, is just like him. Or at least, she knows that she needs to stay on his good side. When an unspeakable act of violence shakes her to her core, Gloria's fiery determination takes shape and she sets herself on a path away from the cycle of violence whirling around her.

Reviews

NPR's Great Reads of 2016
"Dad's a petty criminal whose insults land like punches to the psyche. Mom's an enabler who endures her husband's shenanigans with the help of highballs. Yet their daughter Gloriablessed with Huck Finn's rough-hewn decency and Scout Finch's sassy aplombsurvives, triumps, and, inKookooland, bears witness to an amazing if challenging childhood. Norris's memoir made me laugh, made me cringe, broke my heart, and reaffirmed my optimism. I loved this book!"

Wally Lamb,New York Timesbestselling author of She's Come Undone
"Kookooland is a truly original memoir, dealing with some pretty horrific things with deft humor and a big heart. Gloria Norris has a terrific voice, telling her story from the point of view of the smart, brave kid she must have been. With cinematic urgency, Norris conveys the strange truth that love, fear and hate for a father can live side by side, and thats why violence can endure in families. I raced through this book, heart thumping and breaking simultaneously."

Julie Salamon, author ofThe Devil's CandyandWendy and the Lost Boys
"By turns heartbreaking and darkly humorous, the book not only offers a compelling yet comic portrayal of a fraught father-daughter relationship. Norris also reveals the way violence can become a self-replicating cancer within families. An intelligent and bracing memoir."

Kirkus Reviews
"For anyone who might suppose that a New Hampshire childhood was about tapping maple trees and picking apples, here comes the dark side. I could not have dreamed up a family like the one Gloria Norris brings to life on these pages : crazy, funny, terrifyingor a childhood more filled with confusing contradiction. The brilliance of her story is that she somehow survived the violence that might have destroyed her to give us this dazzling, funhouse ride of a memoir. When you emerge, you may want to run away fast. Or buy another ticket and go back inside."

Joyce Maynard, author ofLabor DayandUnder the Influence
"Although many vibrant characters populate this chilling memoir, Norris re-creation of her early 1960s nine-year-old self is a spot-on treat and a terror. A tumble through a tumultuous time, in which the heroine inexplicably, beautifully lands on her feet."

Booklist
"An electrifying coming-of-age memoir about madness, murder, and a born storyteller's wild ride from a terrorized girlhood in nowheresville New Hampshire to life as a Hollywood producer and screenwriter."

O, The Oprah Magazine

Author Bio

Gloria Norris was raised in a tightknitGreek family. She attended BenningtonCollege and graduated from Sarah LawrenceCollege. She began her career in New York asan assistant to film directors Brian De Palma,Martin Scorsese, and Woody Allen. Sincerelocating to Los Angeles, she has worked asa screenwriter, with assignments that havetaken her from Paris to the Amazon. As anindependent producer, her films have premieredat the Sundance, Toronto, and TribecaFilm festivals.