Flesh and Blood - Softcover

Cunningham, Michael

4.05

6,088 ratings by Goodreads

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0684874318 ISBN 13: 9780684874319

Publisher: Prentice Hall & IBD, 1996

View all copies of this ISBN edition:

In Flesh and Blood, Michael Cunningham takes us on a masterful journey through four generations of the Stassos family as he examines the dynamics of a family struggling to "come of age" in the 20th century. In 1950, Constantine Stassos, a Greek immigrant laborer, marries Mary Cuccio, an Italian-American girl, and together they produce three children: Susan, an ambitious beauty, Billy, a brilliant homosexual, and Zoe, a wild child. Over the years, a web of tangled longings, love, inadequacies and unfulfilled dreams unfolds as Mary and Constantine's marriage fails and Susan, Billy, and Zoe leave to make families of their own. Zoe raises a child with the help of a transvestite, Billy makes a life with another man, and Susan raises a son conceived in secret, each extending the meaning of family and love. With the power of a Greek tragedy, the story builds to a heartbreaking crescendo, allowing a glimpse into contemporary life which will echo in one's heart for years to come.

"synopsis" may belong to another edition of this title.

Review:

"A wonderful . . . sprawling, old-fashioned novel."--"The New York Times Book Review"
"A work of dramatic humanity at a high and poetic level."--"Los Angeles Times" "Reading Michael Cunningham is like putting on see-through glasses. He's got this way of exposing his characters' deepest inclinations and motivations, letting us peer through glass directly into their souls."--"The Boston Globe"
"The book buzzcuts like Edward Scissorhands through the conventionally dull pastures of the American family saga."--"Vanity Fair"

A wonderful . . . sprawling, old-fashioned novel. "The New York Times Book Review"

A work of dramatic humanity at a high and poetic level. "Los Angeles Times"

Reading Michael Cunningham is like putting on see-through glasses. He's got this way of exposing his characters' deepest inclinations and motivations, letting us peer through glass directly into their souls. "The Boston Globe"

The book buzzcuts like Edward Scissorhands through the conventionally dull pastures of the American family saga. "Vanity Fair""

"A wonderful . . . sprawling, old-fashioned novel." --The New York Times Book Review

"A work of dramatic humanity at a high and poetic level." --Los Angeles Times

"Reading Michael Cunningham is like putting on see-through glasses. He's got this way of exposing his characters' deepest inclinations and motivations, letting us peer through glass directly into their souls." --The Boston Globe

"The book buzzcuts like Edward Scissorhands through the conventionally dull pastures of the American family saga." --Vanity Fair

About the Author:

Michael Cunningham

Flesh and Blood is Michael Cunningham's third novel. His first, Golden States, was published in 1984. His second, A Home at the End of the World, published in 1991, was widely acclaimed and was shortlisted for the Irish Times/Aer Lingus International Fiction Prize.

Cunningham has also published a wide array of short stories, including "White Angel" in The New Yorker (1988), "Pearls" in The Paris Review (1982), and "Ignorant Armies" in The Penguin Book of Gay Short Stories (Viking/Penguin 1994). He has also written articles for publications such as Esquire, Vogue, and Out including "After AIDS, Gay Art Aims for a New Reality" for the front page of the Arts & Leisure section of The New York Times in April 1992.

Having won numerous fellowships from institutions such as the Mrs. Giles Whiting Foundation and the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation, Cunningham has been awarded for his prose time and time again. His education includes a Bachelor of Arts from Stanford University and a Master of Arts from the University of Iowa, Writer's Workshop.

Michael Cunningham currently lives in New York City.

Reading Group Discussion Points
Other Books With Reading Group Guides

"About this title" may belong to another edition of this title.