The Autumn Balloon, Kenny Porpora
The Autumn Balloon, Kenny Porpora
1 Rating(s)
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The Autumn Balloon

Author: Kenny Porpora

Narrator: Kenny Porpora

Unabridged: 7 hr 9 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Published: 02/03/2015


Synopsis

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.

Reviews

Goodreads review by Audrey on March 14, 2015

What a great memoir. I think the genre could take some direction from Porpora. He adds a lot of dialogue, even into stories that take place when he is very young. It was odd at first but it made the story feel more genuine, like it was taking place in real time, and wasn't some hashed collection of......more

Goodreads review by Jessica on February 05, 2015

Rarely will I ever recommend a book or say a book was truly powerful enough that I think my friends across the spectrum might enjoy it. Books are personal. What I choose & you choose to read is personal. Book tastes are more different than the style of clothes you like to wear one day to the next. T......more

Goodreads review by Macey on May 04, 2016

I think it's kind of judgmental to rate a memoir because it's the story of someone's life but this story is very insightful and has a happy ending! Warning: there are TONS of cuss words......more

Goodreads review by Denise on March 05, 2015

Full Disclosure: I was chosen a first reads winner, and received a beautiful hardbound copy of The Autumn Balloon in the mail. That in no way affected the review that follows. Kenny Porpora's first book, his memoir The Autumn Balloon, is such a moving story -- in fact, often heart-breaking -- in whic......more

Goodreads review by Nicole on May 28, 2015

I can't say I loved or hated this book. I was always waiting for the climax. I would think, okay, this is a lot like The Glass Castle and With or Without You. I'm enjoying the story (kind of), but I'm not surprised. Maybe I'm a bit desensitized to this stuff. And I would read on, waiting to be surpr......more