Katharine has been appointed to the Richard L. Thomas Chair in Creative Writing at Kenyon College, a five-year appointment for spring semester teaching.
“...Ms. Weber's account of her relationship with her manipulative fabulist of a father brings to mind classic autobiographies of unmoored childhoods, like Mary Karr's "Liars' Club" and those companion volumes from the brothers Wolff, "This Boy's Life" (Tobias) and "The Duke of Deception" (Geoffrey)...It's when Ms. Weber remembers Papa that her considerable skills as a writer are most seductively on display. And it's not just because the exasperating Kaufman is such a good subject. It's that Ms. Weber is able to arrange words musically, so that they capture the elusive, unfinished melodies that haunt our memories of childhood. As her grandmother's lover might have put it, she's got rhythm.” – Ben Brantley, The New York Times
Levi Asher's Litkicks considers all six Katharine Weber books in context
The Memory Of All That: George Gershwin, Kay Swift, and My Family's Legacy of Infidelities has just been published and the reviews are coming in day by day!
“The Memory of All That is less a family memoir than a family biography. Which is good, because Weber's kin are more than fascinating enough to stand on their own without the embellishments of personal memory — especially her maternal grandmother, the composer Kay Swift, whose 10-year affair with George Gershwin is the primary melodic theme around which the book is structured. Complicating matters was that for 7 out of those 10 years, Swift was married to another man, James Warburg, a member of a preeminent banking family and an adviser to FDR. There is plenty to unpack in this multidirectional relationship, and Weber does her best to evoke its more tender elements with writing that is both loving and distanced. But these high-society emotional escapades contrast with the book's other major figure, Weber's father. An aggressively unfaithful and relentlessly self-promoting movie producer, he yearned desperately for his own legacy, like that of his famous in-laws. The grand irony is that in his search, he neglected the one thing that could ensure his memory lived on: his family. A-” – Entertainment Weekly
“A thoroughly engaging family memoir.” – Library Journal
“A captivating multigenerational saga.” – Booklist
“A wry portrait of a powerful, talented, but troubled family.” – Publishers Weekly
“Novelist Weber tells the story of her colorful family and the scandalous—but monumentally transformative—love affair between her grandmother, Kay Swift and George Gershwin….Rich details of a dazzling but painful family past fraught with betrayals, infidelities and other assorted dysfunctions…. illuminating.” – Kirkus Reviews
"To be a writer born into an illustrious and complex family is both a burden and a gift. In THE MEMORY OF ALL THAT, Katharine Weber trains her novelist's eye and penetrating intelligence upon what may be her greatest subject: her own family's history as it stretches back, generation after fascinating generation. Her achievement here is a literary one, to be sure--but even more than the beautiful, elegant story contained in these pages, I am in awe of the strength, tenacity and courage it took to rise up out of this fabled cast of characters and write one of the most powerful memoirs about inheritance I have ever read."
—Dani Shapiro, author of Devotion
“The Memory of All That is an engaging family memoir that centers on the ardent extra-marital liaison between the author's maternal grandmother, composer Kay Swift, and her eminent colleague George Gershwin....An entertaining, often poignant book.”
—Francine du Plessix Gray, author of Them
"A deeply moving book that is resonant and richly rewarding. Katharine Weber’s loving and insightful look at her marquee worthy family fundamentally reminds us of our own in its strangeness and complexity. The deeply bonded relationship between her grandmother Kay Swift and lover George Gershwin is finally fully revealed with accuracy and aching poignancy. No one has ever properly told their story, and the combination of Weber’s inside family knowledge, assiduous research, and brilliant writing make this an unforgettable and essential read."
—Michael Feinstein
“I honestly don't believe I've ever read a memoir so filled with anything like Weber’s own, fierce, detached grace. Her ability to evoke the most horrifying events while reducing the reader to helpless laughter is uncanny….An extraordinary achievement.”
—Robb Forman Dew
Laura Lippman named True Confections as one of her favorite books of the year!
Garrison Keillor wished Katharine a happy birthday again this year!
Katharine's Public Radio Report from the Sweets & Snacks Expo in Chicago, May 26, 2010
The critics love TRUE CONFECTIONS!
"Wickedly funny... sly, engrossing... Alice is a remarkable creation, a witty, engaging and thoroughly unreliable narrator... The narrative delves lovingly into the history of a venerable immigrant industry, and brings to mind the elegiac mid-career novels of Philip Roth...a true confection indeed." - NPR
"A great American tale." - New York Times Book Review
"Marvelous, a vividly imagined story about love, obsession and betrayal" -Boston Globe
"Katharine Weber is one of the wittiest, most stimulating novelists at work today...wonderful fun and endlessly provocative." - Chicago Tribune
"Succulently inventive" - Washington Post "
"Her most delectable novel yet" - L.A. Times
See these reviews and much more here.
Garrison Keillor talks about Katharine's birthday at Writer's Almanac
Katharine discussed TRIANGLE with Sheila Kast on WEEKEND EDITION on National Public Radio.
The Music Lesson has been published in France by Les Editions du Sonneur as Jeune Femme au Luth
TRIANGLE was selected as required reading for the entering class at NYU's Steinhardt School in Fall 2009.
Steinhardt Blog Q & A
Katharine's short story "Sleeping" adapted for the screen: http://www.group-six.com/.
Watch the trailer:
Click Here
Katharine appears in the documentary, STOLEN
A note to Book
Groups...
A note about finding information about Katharine Weber on the Web: If you are seeking reviews, website or blog mentions, or other background material, please check with alternate spellings; there are numerous links to Katherine Weber. You may have landed on this website using that spelling, which is why I keep the domain name katherineweber.com linked to katharineweber.com. |
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