BOOK TITLE: A Carlin Home Companion: Growing Up with George
AUTHOR: Kelly Carlin
YEAR: 2015
GENRE: Nonfiction
SUBGENRE: Memoir
GRADE: Extra Credit
Growing up as the daughter of legendary comedian George
Carlin presented itself with some unique challenges as well as heartfelt
moments for Kelly. Whether she helped her parents through drug addictions, they
helped her through toxic romances, or she forced herself to confront her
parents’ deaths and become her own creative beacon, Kelly Carlin’s life story
was never short on exciting and sorrowful milestones. Her love of comedy,
creativity, music, and life in general was shaped and influenced by the
wonderful father and friend known as George Carlin. Even today, Kelly doesn’t
take anything for granted and knows how precious life really is. She knows
better than anybody that laughter heals all wounds and there’s nothing wrong
with a good cry every now and then.
In the late 90’s, Kelly’s mother passed away due to cancer
complications. In 2008, she lost George as well. The way Kelly describes the
emotional trauma of losing her loved ones is the biggest reason I’m giving this
book an extra credit grade. Whenever she feels pain, you feel it too. Even if
your own parents are alive and well, Kelly’s writing makes you aware that
nothing lasts forever. She shed many tears and suffered plenty of panic attacks
during this moment of coping. If you as the reader cried along with her, I
wouldn’t blame you one bit. In fact, I’d probably give you a big old teddy bear
hug to ease some of your pain. Dealing with death never gets any easier as time
goes by, but with Kelly’s wisdom and George’s comedy, you’ll never feel alone
in this world.
Another part of this book that makes me feel for Kelly is
the way in which she describes her various romantic relationships and how
they’ve soured badly over time. The worst offenders in this case were a high
school class clown named Terry and a coked up loser named Andrew Sutton. These
two former lovers put Kelly through enough pain and suffering to scar her for
life, which doesn’t make dealing with dead parents in the future any less
torturous. I cringed when I read about all the times Kelly refused to break
things off with her lovers, because I wanted her to have a happy life without
disgusting people ruining it for her. Fortunately, she did find a husband who
was actually worthy of her love. His name is Bob McCall and he’s the luckiest
dude on planet earth.
And finally, I want to touch briefly on Kelly’s need to
break free from her parents’ shadows and become her own person. She still loves
them with all of her shattered heart, but when it’s time to spread your wings
and fly, you’ve got to do it. George constantly challenged her comfort zone
through his comedy routines and wise parenting (drug addiction aside). While
the comfort zone is a beautiful place, nothing ever grows there. Kelly took a
while to find her creative footing, but when she did, she accomplished so much
whether it was becoming a licensed therapist, a performing artist, a writer, or
anything else she damn well wanted to be. Readers can learn a lot from her life
story and hopefully what they learn will propel them to new heights. Yes, it’s
scary at first as Kelly will attest, but conquering those fears will only make
you stronger.
Whether you’re a devout fan of George Carlin or a lover of
literature in general, Kelly Carlin’s memoir will bring you to the edge and
back again with her tales of growing up with one of the greatest comedians of
all time. Despite all of the hardships and heartaches, Kelly made it through
life a much stronger person than she was in her younger years. George wasn’t a
perfect father (then again, who is?), but he was the only one she’d ever known
and life would be boring without that influence. This is a tale of love and
inspiration. Pick up a copy today!
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