Vendor
	Mohrbooks Literary Agency Sebastian Ritscher
Original language
English
Categories
Memoirs
Weblink
http://www.georgeestreich.com/Ge …

THE SHAPE OF THE EYE

George Estreich

Down Syndrome, Family, and the Stories We Inherit

A beautiful memoir from poet George Estreich.

When Laura Estreich is born, her appearance presents a puzzle: Does the shape of her eyes indicateDown syndrome, or the fact that she has a Japanese grandmother? In this powerful memoir, George Estreich, a poet and stay-at-home dad, tells his daughter's story, reflecting on her inheritance—from the literal legacy of her genes, to the family history that precedes her, to the Victorian physician John Langdon Down's diagnostic error of "Mongolian idiocy." Against this backdrop, Laura takes her place in the Estreich family as a unique child, quirky and real, loved for everything ordinary and extraordinary about her. George Estreich's collection of poems, Textbook Illustrations of the Human Body, won the 2004 Gorsline Prize. A woodworker, fly-fisherman, and guitar player, he has taught composition, creative writing, and literature at several universities. He lives in Cornvallis, Oregon with his wife Theresa, a research scientist, and his two daughters, Ellie and Laura.

Available products
Book Published 2013-04-18 by Tarcher
Book Published 2013-04-18 by Tarcher

Comments

A beautifully told adventure tale of the heart. As the title suggests, George Estreich artfully and honestly—and often humorously—explores how we shape and are shaped by the people closest to us. What he discovers is nothing less than a revelation about the nature of love.

Estreich brings a poet's eye and ear, an historian's depth of understanding, a humorist's healthy skepticism, and a scientist's curiosity to this poignant story of what it means to be a family.

Engaging and unsentimental, The Shape of the Eye taught me a great deal. It is a story I found myself thinking about long after I'd finished the final pages

A poignantly eloquent meditation on the genetics of belonging.

This is a marvelous book. There is an unmistakable air of honesty, authenticity, and humility that underpins the author’s writing. For those of us with family members born with Down Syndrome, many of Estreich’sobservations have an unerring veracity.

A poignant, beautifully written, and intensely moving memoir.

Streich's gift for writing is extraordinary, his prose wry and evocative. I found myself re-reading many passages, rolling them over in my mind, savoring and absorbing each word. Read more...