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- Verified Buyer
I grew up in a home filled with children's series books such as Nancy Drew, The Bobbsey Twins and many others (not all of them series books, thank goodness). At the time, I thought author Laura Lee Hope was not just an author's name on the cover of Bobbsey Twins books but one that represented a single author, not a series of authors working for an organization. I thought of Laura as a kindly woman who sat down and thought of a new formulaic story for children, perhaps with a light shawl around her shoulders, sun streaming through the windows of her traditional home.Wrong! Instead, a group of various authors worked for Edward Stratemeyer to create many of those children's books. Stratemeyer was a shrewd man who hired writers to work for his syndicate, allowing him to maintain control and most of the profits.After reading the book, House of Happy Endings, written by Leslie Garis, I had a whole new perspective on the world of peaceful families, solid values and the sugar-coated world of those children's series books, ones populated with the names of Tom Swift, Baseball Joe, Dorothy Dale and the Bobbsey Twins. Our home had a fair number of these books, although I admit I found them a bit too formulaic for my tastes. Still, I have memories of those covers and the beaming faces and idyllic scenes that graced those covers.In the books I'd read, everything generally ended well and the children and adults went off to bed to dream happy dreams -never nightmares. I do feel compelled to warn potential readers of House of Happy Endings that if you have cherished memories of those books - as well as illusions of kindly authors spinning these lovely fantasy tales - ....you might want to avoid reading the book. But if you like wonderfully told memoirs that are both powerful and enlightening, I'd suggest you get a copy of this and sit down for a good read.Why? Because House of Happy Endings openly examines the life of one author, Leslie Garis, and her family and how their lives were seriously twisted by trying to live a life modeled on illusions of perfection like those reflected in the books. Leslie Garis's grandfather, Howard Garis, was the creator of the famed Uncle Wiggily books. He couldn't walk down the street without children clamoring for him to tell them stories about Uncle Wiggily and he'd often do just that. He was seen as a kindly gentleman who love children and eagerly looked forward to coming up with more tales to enchant them. The truth was far darker.Imagine being the son of the man who created Uncle Wiggily. The son of "the man who created Uncle Wiggily" was Roger Garis. Try to think about how that might impact your life. Intrigued? Then you'll want to pick up the book, House of Happy Endings, because Leslie Garis reveals exactly how intimidating it was for a budding writer (her father) to try to compete with the reputation of his own father. You'd think he'd want to avoid becoming anything but a writer but his father encouraged him to continue the family tradition even as his mother undermined him.By now it should be clear that the Garis household was definitely not one of life imitating art, of the sunny, cheerful Bobbsey Twins, but of a family struggling desperately to hold things together in the wake of impending crisis. Leslie Garis's father, Roger Garis, had terrible mood swings, drug addictions and the ill luck to be overshadowed by his famous father. She describes his struggles, mental breakdowns and odd behavior in an open, but also loving, style. I consider this book to be one of the best I've read in quite some time.At this point, you may be cringing and wondering why on earth anyone would ever want to pick up this book, one which tears apart the illusions anyone might hold about the beloved Bobbsey Twins and Uncle Wiggily and the authors behind them.Here's some quick reasons you should put this on your "to read" list of books:1. It reveals a piece of American social history, especially children's literature and book history, that is both personal and engaging. There are larger truths and insights here about what people wanted to read, the ideals they cherished and the type of books they bought for themselves and their children - especially in the 30s and 40s. Author Leslie Garis had rare access to some of the letters sent by those readers as well as the demands of the publishing company.Reading this allows one to get a "behind the scenes" looks at children's book series authors, their readers and the way the work was written and published. As a reader and a writer, I found it impossible to put down!2. The book is written with enough drama to be completely riveting but also a certain amount of restraint. This could easily have seemed like a "Mommy or Daddy Dearest" story but the author has the good sense to pull back from that and to simply reveal what life was like at The Dell, a family home bought with much hope and promise and one that was indeed expected to be a house of happy endings. Instead, life in that large home turned into a downward spiral and a steadily worsening nightmare. Leslie Garis was witness to it all and reconstructs the entire situation with amazing clarity.3. There is previously unrevealed information about the inside workings of the Stratemeyer syndicate. They really held dear the illusions they created, including the fact that there was one author named Laura Lee Hope who wrote The Bobbsey Twins. Even today, many unknowing readers assume that there was a single author who wrote all those books. I really enjoyed learning the truth as well as the impact that trying to keep secrets had on the Garis family. The Stratemeyers could be cruel, demanding and vengeful!4. The book is inspirational, although not in the way that many "inspirational" book fit that genre. It is a sideways kind of inspiration, one that can be intuited by reading the author's bio and learning that she went on to write New York Times Magazine profile of many authors, including John Fowles and Joan Didion and Georges Simenon.Before that, however, she had her own breakdown and struggles. For all readers of House of Happy Endings, one message could well be that life can be hard but resilience can be found even when all hope truly seems lost.5. Leslie Garis doesn't pull any punches. She describes the weaknesses of her father, grandfather, mother and grandmother in graphic detail. The family was like a turbulent cloud of dysfunction and yet there were happy moments and even touching ones. From hysterical fits to money troubles, Garis gives a first person account, first seen from the eyes of a child and then as the emerging woman she was becoming. No one was left untouched, from her brothers to Garis herself. All suffered from the family dynamics.Perhaps most touching of all is the plaintive question that opens the book but which I find to be an excellent summary of how Leslie Garis felt so much of the time, the question she seem to return to - time and again:"We were a nice family once, weren't we? "
