“Spillman unspools a story that will resonate with everyone who’s ever searched for home.” Michael Hainey, New York Times bestselling author
Description
From the award-winning, esteemed cofounding editor of the legendary Tin House magazine, All Tomorrow’s Parties is an intimate, spirited memoir of a rebellious young man’s fierce pursuit of an artistic life and a portrait of a shifting Berlin in the midst of a cultural renaissance.
Rob Spillman has devoted his life to the rebellious pursuit of artistic authenticity. Born in Germany to two driven musicians, his childhood was spent among the West Berlin cognoscenti in a city two hundred miles behind the Iron Curtain. There, the Berlin Wall stood as a stark reminder of the split between East and West, between suppressed dreams and freedom of expression.
After an unsettled youth moving between divorced parents in disparate cities, Spillman would eventually find his way into the literary world of New York City, only to abandon it to return to Berlin just months after the wall came down. Twenty-five and newly married, Spillman and his wife moved to the anarchic streets of East Berlin in search of the bohemian lifestyle of their idols. But Spillman soon discovered he was chasing the one thing that had always eluded him: a place, or person, to call home.
In his intimate, entertaining, and heartfelt memoir, Spillman narrates a colorful, music-filled coming-of-age portrait of an artist’s life that is also a cultural exploration of a shifting Berlin.
Praise
“Spillman unspools a story that will resonate with everyone who’s ever searched for home.” Michael Hainey, New York Times bestselling author
“Rob Spillman’s story of rarefied opera culture as a child, and East German nightlife an adult, is limpid and lively in its telling, and it covers fascinating ground.” Rachel Kushner, New York Times bestselling author
“If you’ve ever been young, in love, and desperate to live an authentic life, this book is for you—a ravishing memoir about a young man’s quest for art, meaning, and a place to call home.” Anthony Doerr, New York Times bestselling author
“In this carefully wrought coming-of-age memoir, a young American writer searches for home in an unlikely place: East Berlin immediately after the fall of the wall…Ultimately, his is a quest of roots and writerly authenticity—and his evocation of East Berlin’s last days is exquisite and revealing.” Publishers Weekly (starred review)
“Spillman recounts his nomadic youth, shuttling between summers at musical festivals with his father and Baltimore, where he struggles to fit into his mother’s new life. Lifelong exposure to passionate artists may have fueled his creativity, but an existential dread that he won’t find passion in his own life gnaws at him…This is the story of formative years spent struggling to fully embrace life at the crossroads of history, art, home, and family.” Booklist (starred review)
Details
| Language | English |
|---|---|
| Release Day | Apr 4, 2016 |
| Release Date | April 5, 2016 |
| Release Date Machine | 1459814400 |
| Imprint | Blackstone Publishing |
| Provider | Blackstone Publishing |
| Categories | Biographies & Memoirs, Entertainment & Celebrities, Nonfiction - Adult, Nonfiction - All |
Author Bio
Rob Spillman is editor of Tin House magazine and editorial advisor of Tin House Books. He was previously the monthly book columnist for Details magazine and edited Gods and Soldiers: The Penguin Anthology of Contemporary African Writing. He has written for Vogue, GQ, Rolling Stone, Vanity Fair, the Boston Review, and the New York Times Book Review, among many others. Spillman has also worked for Random House, Vanity Fair, and the New Yorker. He teaches at various MFA programs, including Columbia University’s.
Narrator Bio
Malcolm Hillgartner is an accomplished actor, writer, and musician. Named an AudioFile Best Voice of 2013 and the recipient of several Earphones Awards, he has narrated over 250 audiobooks.
Overview
From the award-winning, esteemed cofounding editor of the legendary Tin House magazine, All Tomorrow’s Parties is an intimate, spirited memoir of a rebellious young man’s fierce pursuit of an artistic life and a portrait of a shifting Berlin in the midst of a cultural renaissance.
Rob Spillman has devoted his life to the rebellious pursuit of artistic authenticity. Born in Germany to two driven musicians, his childhood was spent among the West Berlin cognoscenti in a city two hundred miles behind the Iron Curtain. There, the Berlin Wall stood as a stark reminder of the split between East and West, between suppressed dreams and freedom of expression.
After an unsettled youth moving between divorced parents in disparate cities, Spillman would eventually find his way into the literary world of New York City, only to abandon it to return to Berlin just months after the wall came down. Twenty-five and newly married, Spillman and his wife moved to the anarchic streets of East Berlin in search of the bohemian lifestyle of their idols. But Spillman soon discovered he was chasing the one thing that had always eluded him: a place, or person, to call home.
In his intimate, entertaining, and heartfelt memoir, Spillman narrates a colorful, music-filled coming-of-age portrait of an artist’s life that is also a cultural exploration of a shifting Berlin.
Reviews
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