| Description |
1 online resource (295 pages) |
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text file rda |
| Contents |
Intro; Title Page; Welcome; Dedication; Prologue; PART ONE; Chapter 1; Chapter 2; Chapter 3; Chapter 4; Chapter 5; Chapter 6; Chapter 7; Chapter 8; Chapter 9; Chapter 10; Chapter 11; PART TWO; Chapter 12; Chapter 13; Chapter 14; Chapter 15; Chapter 16; Chapter 17; Chapter 18; Chapter 19; Chapter 20; Chapter 21; Acknowledgments; About the Author; Reading Group Guide; Newsletters; Table of Contents; Copyright |
| Summary |
"Every autumn, Kenny Porpora would watch his heartbroken mother scribble messages on balloons and release them into the sky above Long Island, one for each family member they'd lost to addiction. As the number of balloons grew, his mother fell deeper into alcoholism, drinking away her sorrows every night in front of the television, where her love of Regis Philbin provided a respite from the sadness around her. When their house was foreclosed upon, Kenny's mother absconded with him and his beloved dog and fled for the Arizona desert, joining her heroin-addicted brother on a quixotic search for a better life. What followed was an outlaw adolescence spent in constant upheaval surrounded by bizarre characters and drug-addicted souls. In the wake of unspeakable loss, Kenny convinced a college to take a chance on him, and turned to the mentors, writers, and poets he found to rebuild the family he lost, and eventually graduated from the Ivy League with a new life. Porpora's memoir is the story of a deeply dysfunctional but loving family, and follows his life from the chaos of his youth to his triumphs in the Ivy League. At times darkly comic, at times elegiac, The Autumn Balloon is a beautifully written testament to the irreplaceable bonds of family, even under the most trying circumstances, and one that marks the debut of an exciting new writer"-- Provided by publisher. |
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The author describes his unconventional upbringing by his alcoholic mother, who dragged him, his dog, and his heroin-addicted brother to the Arizona desert in search of a better life. |
| System Details |
Requires Boundless App. |
| Subject |
Porpora, Kenny.
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Porpora, Kenny -- Childhood and youth.
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Porpora, Kenny -- Family.
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Porpora, Kenny. |
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Young men -- United States -- Biography.
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College graduates -- United States -- Biography.
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Children of alcoholics -- United States -- Biography.
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Dysfunctional families -- United States.
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Alcoholics -- Family relationships -- United States.
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Drug addicts -- Family relationships -- United States.
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Alcoholics -- Family relationships. |
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Children of alcoholics. |
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College graduates. |
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Drug addicts -- Family relationships. |
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Dysfunctional families. |
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Families. |
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Young men. |
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United States. |
| Genre |
Electronic books. |
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Biography.
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| Other Form: |
Electronic reproduction of (manifestation): Porpora, Kenny. Autumn balloon New York : Grand Central Publishing, 2015 9781455545162 (DLC) 2014015983 (OCoLC)881206792 |
| ISBN |
9781455579532 : $78.00 |
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145557953X : $78.00 |
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