Book Review - Dead End Gene Pool by Wendy Burden

Synopsis:  For generations the Burdens were one of the wealthiest families in New York, thanks to the inherited fortune of Cornelius "The Commodore" Vanderbilt. By 1955, the year of Wendy's birth, the Burden's had become a clan of overfunded, quirky and brainy, steadfastly chauvinistic, and ultimately doomed bluebloods on the verge of financial and moral decline-and were rarely seen not holding a drink. In Dead End Gene Pool, Wendy invites readers to meet her tragically flawed family, including an uncle with a fondness for Hitler, a grandfather who believes you can never have enough household staff, and a remarkably flatulent grandmother.

At the heart of the story is Wendy's glamorous and aloof mother who, after her husband's suicide, travels the world in search of the perfect sea and ski tan, leaving her three children in the care of a chain- smoking Scottish nanny, Fifth Avenue grandparents, and an assorted cast of long-suffering household servants (who Wendy and her brothers love to terrorize). Rife with humor, heartbreak, family intrigue, and booze, Dead End Gene Pool offers a glimpse into the fascinating world of old money and gives truth to an old maxim: The rich are different.

First Line:  "It's a testament to his libido, if not his character, that Cornelius Vanderbilt died of syphilis instead of apoplexy."

Random Quote:  "She figured out a way to thank the cute lifeguard all right, starting with the mai tai she bought him at the Tiki bar when he went off duty.  As for the person on the other end of the interrupted long-distance call, turns out he only wanted to know her ring size."

Review:  This belongs firmly to that family of memoirs where the story is driven by the weird people in the writer's immediate family.  Everyone wanders around sort of goggle-eyed and mad, as if they were permanently trapped in a Wes Anderson movie.  Auguten Burroughs famously does this in Running with Scissors, but David Sedaris is also really good at it as is my personal favorite Gerald Durrell.  Done well these are funny books, but also knowing books.  It is essential that the author treat the people populating these books as just that - people - with strange, funny, maddening, and endearing sides.  Done poorly and these are cardboard cutouts that read uncomfortably like an author working out their childhood revenge fantasies in print.

W.K. Vanderbilt home on 5th Ave, New York City - Image via Wikipedia

Burden's book is well done.  The picture on the cover nicely sums up the stories within - they are about family in all their variations - silly, crazy, irritating, hurtful, wistful, loving, mysterious.  The stories of the author's childhood are particularly well-related although the later stories as we watch her grandparents descend into dementia and death are also both chilling and heartbreaking.  I felt a bond with Wendy, perhaps because I also used to look at Charles Addams books when I was at my grandparents and while I didn't want to be Wednesday or a mortician I would've loved to have been Morticia.

This was a fun read filled with some lovely moments, both poignant and ridiculous.  The author's childhood may not have been standard, but whose is?  It is good to hear her story and good to see how much she loves her family and good to know that she understands that she wouldn't be herself without them.  No axes to grind here, no revenge fantasies to work out, just stories.

My thanks to Lisa at TLC Book Tours for the advance copy of this book and the spot on Wendy Burden's tour for Dead End Gene Pool.  Visit them here for a list of stops on this tour!

Reading Challenges:  ARC Reading Challenge, 2010 100+ Reading Challenge