Review
"Take This Man" is as astonishing a memoir as I've ever read. Brando Skyhorse's beautifully-told tale of his truly bizarre childhood and his search for a father moved me in a way that few books have. I will never forget Skyhorse's charismatic mother and grandmother, nor the tortured triangle the three of them formed. I was reminded at times of Geoffrey Wolff's "The Duke of Deception", and also of "The Glass Castle" by Jeanette Walls and "The Tender Bar" by J.R. Moehringer. But I guarantee that this is a family story unlike any you've read before. It deserves to become a classic.--Will Schwalbe, New York Times bestselling author of The End of Your Life Book Club
The details of Brando Skyhorse's life are as outlandish and attention-grabbing as his name. Imagine the kind of mother who advertises you for adoption in the back of a magazine and then denies it to your face, or the kind of stepfather who calls his prison 'Arizona State, ' as if discussing his alma mater. "Take This Man" is a funny and harrowing and touching portrait of the abyss in families between what we know we should do and how our hearts lead us to behave.--Jim Shepard, author of Like You'd Understand, Anyway and You Think That's Bad
Brando Skyhorse's unputdownable "Take This Man" is one of the most moving and mesmerizing memoirs I've ever read. I'm still reeling. Its familial dysfunction rivals "The Glass Castle", the poetry of the language echoes "This Boy's Life", and the bravery in Skyhorse's search for answers, for a family, conjures up "Wild". Yet Skyhorse's memoir is wholly and uniquely his own. As his mother's mantra went: 'At least it's never boring.' And it never is. This is a miraculous memoir from a spectacularly talented writer.--Susannah Cahalan, New York Times bestselling author of Brain on Fire
"Take This Man" reaches beyond the bounds of my imagination. We use the word "survivor" with disgracefully casual ease. But this writer truly survived being held hostage, raised by wolves. Brando's grandmother and mother are terrifying and mesmerizing. Their cruelty to their biographer was audacious, calculated and thrilling to read. Stories molested him and nourished him. And it is with relief that I read in "Take This Man" flashes of Brando's bitterness and heat, sane fury directed at the Scheherazades who toyed with him. Whatever else they did to him, when he escaped he knew how to tell a story, and this is one hell of story.--Geoffrey Wolff, author of The Duke of Deception
This gorgeous, wrenching, ultimately uplifting book is a testament to the large and generous heart of its author. Brando Skyhorse has made art out of the chaos of his own extraordinary family history, and, in so doing, has raised the bar, not only for memoirists, but for us all.--Dani Shapiro, bestselling author of Still Writing
Take This Man is a grand story full of fantastic characters--characters whom the author brings vividly to life because they ARE his life. Skyhorses's shifting identity creates an intense quest for meaning, a kind of whodunit memoir that explores the sometimes hilarious, sometimes heartbreaking, often absurd, and always fascinating childhood that the author, no matter his lineage, has no choice but to claim as his own. Pour a shot of Wolff's This Boy's Life, add a jigger of Moehringer's The Tender Bar, throw in a splash of Rivera's Family Installments, and this is what you get: a heady cocktail of memories with a twist.--Kim Barnes, Author of In the Kingdom of Men and In the Wilderness: Coming of Age in Unknown Country
"The details of Brando Skyhorse's life are as outlandish and attention-grabbing as his name. Imagine the kind of mother who advertises you for adoption in the back of a magazine and then denies it to your face, or the kind of stepfather who calls his prison 'Arizona State, ' as if discussing his alma mater." Take This Man" is a funny and harrowing and touching portrait of the abyss in families between what we know we should do and how our hearts lead us to behave."--Jim Shepard, author of Like You'd Understand, Anyway and You Think That's Bad
A beautiful, compassionate, but also hilarious and hair-raising tale of one boy's life, the lies and truths his mother told, and the damage and the magic she created. Brando Skyhorse is an irresistible writer with an incredible story.--Jeannette Walls, author of The Glass Castle
"Take This Man" is a grand story full of fantastic characters--characters whom the author brings vividly to life because they ARE his life. Skyhorses's shifting identity creates an intense quest for meaning, a kind of whodunit memoir that explores the sometimes hilarious, sometimes heartbreaking, often absurd, and always fascinating childhood that the author, no matter his lineage, has no choice but to claim as his own. Pour a shot of Wolff's "This Boy's Life", add a jigger of Moehringer's "The Tender Bar", throw in a splash of Rivera's "Family Installments", and this is what you get: a heady cocktail of memories with a twist.--Kim Barnes, author of In the Kingdom of Men
"This gorgeous, wrenching, ultimately uplifting book is a testament to the large and generous heart of its author. Brando Skyhorse has made art out of the chaos of his own extraordinary family history, and, in so doing, has raised the bar, not only for memoirists, but for us all."--Dani Shapiro, bestselling author of Still Writing
""Take This Man" is as astonishing a memoir as I've ever read. Brando Skyhorse's beautifully-told tale of his truly bizarre childhood and his search for a father moved me in a way that few books have. I will never forget Skyhorse's charismatic mother and grandmother, nor the tortured triangle the three of them formed. I was reminded at times of Geoffrey Wolff's "The Duke of Deception," and also of "The Glass Castle" by Jeanette Walls and "The Tender Bar" by J.R. Moehringer. But I guarantee that this is a family story unlike any you've read before. It deserves to become a classic."--Will Schwalbe, New York Times bestselling author of The End of Your Life Book Club
"Brando Skyhorse's unputdownable "Take This Man" is one of the most moving and mesmerizing memoirs I've ever read. I'm still reeling. Its familial dysfunction rivals "The Glass Castle," the poetry of the language echoes" This Boy's Life," and the bravery in Skyhorse's search for answers, for a family, conjures up "Wild." Yet Skyhorse's memoir is wholly and uniquely his own. As his mother's mantra went: 'At least it's never boring.' And it never is. This is a miraculous memoir from a spectacularly talented writer."--Susannah Cahalan, New York Times bestselling author of Brain on Fire
"A beautiful, compassionate, but also hilarious and hair-raising tale of one boy s life, the lies and truths his mother told, and the damage and the magic she created. Brando Skyhorse is an irresistible writer with an incredible story."--Jeannette Walls, author of The Glass Castle"
""Take" "This" "Man" reaches beyond the bounds of my imagination. We use the word survivor with disgracefully casual ease. But this writer truly survived being held hostage, raised by wolves. Brando s grandmother and mother are terrifying and mesmerizing. Their cruelty to their biographer was audacious, calculated and thrilling to read. Stories molested him and nourished him. And it is with relief that I read in "Take" "This" "Man" flashes of Brando s bitterness and heat, sane fury directed at the Scheherazades who toyed with him. Whatever else they did to him, when he escaped he knew how to tell a story, and this is one hell of story."--Geoffrey Wolff, author of The Duke of Deception
"Brando Skyhorse s unputdownable "Take This Man" is one of the most moving and mesmerizing memoirs I ve ever read. I m still reeling. Its familial dysfunction rivals "The Glass Castle," the poetry of the language echoes" This Boy s Life," and the bravery in Skyhorse s search for answers, for a family, conjures up "Wild." Yet Skyhorse s memoir is wholly and uniquely his own. As his mother s mantra went: At least it s never boring. And it never is. This is a miraculous memoir from a spectacularly talented writer."--Susannah Cahalan, New York Times bestselling author of Brain on Fire"
""Take This Man" is a grand story full of fantastic characters--characters whom the author brings vividly to life because they ARE his life. Skyhorses's shifting identity creates an intense quest for meaning, a kind of whodunit memoir that explores the sometimes hilarious, sometimes heartbreaking, often absurd, and always fascinating childhood that the author, no matter his lineage, has no choice but to claim as his own. Pour a shot of Wolff's "This Boy s Life," add a jigger of Moehringer's "The Tender Bar," throw in a splash of Rivera's "Family Installments," and this is what you get: a heady cocktail of memories with a twist."--Kim Barnes, author of In the Kingdom of Men"
"Take This Man is as astonishing a memoir as I've ever read. Brando Skyhorse's beautifully-told tale of his truly bizarre childhood and his search for a father moved me in a way that few books have. I will never forget Skyhorse's charismatic mother and grandmother, nor the tortured triangle the three of them formed. I was reminded at times of Geoffrey Wolff's The Duke of Deception, and also of The Glass Castle by Jeanette Walls and The Tender Bar by J.R. Moehringer. But I guarantee that this is a family story unlike any you've read before. It deserves to become a classic."--Will Schwalbe, New York Times bestselling author of The End of Your Life Book Club
"Take This Man reaches beyond the bounds of my imagination. We use the word survivor with disgracefully casual ease. But this writer truly survived being held hostage, raised by wolves. Brando s grandmother and mother are terrifying and mesmerizing. Their cruelty to their biographer was audacious, calculated and thrilling to read. Stories molested him and nourished him. And it is with relief that I read in Take This Man flashes of Brando s bitterness and heat, sane fury directed at the Scheherazades who toyed with him. Whatever else they did to him, when he escaped he knew how to tell a story, and this is one hell of story."--Geoffrey Wolff, author of The Duke of Deception
"The details of Brando Skyhorse s life are as outlandish and attention-grabbing as his name. Imagine the kind of mother who advertises you for adoption in the back of a magazine and then denies it to your face, or the kind of stepfather who calls his prison Arizona State, as if discussing his alma mater. Take This Man is a funny and harrowing and touching portrait of the abyss in families between what we know we should do and how our hearts lead us to behave."--Jim Shepard, author of Like You'd Understand, Anyway and You Think That's Bad"
"Brando Skyhorse s unputdownable Take This Man is one of the most moving and mesmerizing memoirs I ve ever read. I m still reeling. Its familial dysfunction rivals The Glass Castle, the poetry of the language echoes This Boy s Life, and the bravery in Skyhorse s search for answers, for a family, conjures up Wild. Yet Skyhorse s memoir is wholly and uniquely his own. As his mother s mantra went: At least it s never boring. And it never is. This is a miraculous memoir from a spectacularly talented writer."--Susannah Cahalan, New York Times bestselling author of Brain on Fire"
"Take This Man is a grand story full of fantastic characters--characters whom the author brings vividly to life because they ARE his life. Skyhorses's shifting identity creates an intense quest for meaning, a kind of whodunit memoir that explores the sometimes hilarious, sometimes heartbreaking, often absurd, and always fascinating childhood that the author, no matter his lineage, has no choice but to claim as his own. Pour a shot of Wolff's This Boy s Life, add a jigger of Moehringer's The Tender Bar, throw in a splash of Rivera's Family Installments, and this is what you get: a heady cocktail of memories with a twist."--Kim Barnes, author of In the Kingdom of Men"
About the Author
Brando Skyhorse s debut novel, The Madonnas of Echo Park, won the 2011 PEN/Hemingway Award and the Sue Kaufman Award for First Fiction from the American Academy of Arts and Letters. Skyhorse is a graduate of Stanford University and the MFA Writers Workshop program at UC Irvine. He is the 2014 Jenny McKean Moore Writer-In-Washington at George Washington University.
