The Love Curse of the Rumbaughs, Jack Gantos
The Love Curse of the Rumbaughs, Jack Gantos
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The Love Curse of the Rumbaughs

Author: Jack Gantos

Narrator: Lisa Datz

Unabridged: 4 hr 46 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Published: 05/23/2006


Synopsis

“I expect you might think the story I am about to tell you is untrue or perversely gothic in some unhealthy way. You might even think I’ve exaggerated the facts in order to twist this book into a modern-day metaphor on the exploitation of human creation, as did Mary Shelley with Frankenstein. Maybe you’ll think I’m trying to spook you with a psychological tale of a murderous double as Edgar Allan Poe wrote in “William Wilson,” or to stir up family shame as Hawthorne did in The House of the Seven Gables. But my story is entirely different.”
So begins Jack Gantos’ unnerving drama about three generations of family and friends in a small western Pennsylvania town, held together by the secrets of obsessional mother love–a love so blood-bound that, once revealed, it has no choice but to turn against its keepers.

About Jack Gantos

Jack Gantos has written books for people of all ages, from picture books and middle-grade fiction to novels for young adults and adults. His works include Hole in My Life, a memoir that won the Michael L. Printz and Robert F. Sibert Honors, Joey Pigza Swallowed the Key, a National Book Award Finalist, and Joey Pigza Loses Control, a Newbery Honor book. Jack was born in Mount Pleasant, Pennsylvania, and when he was seven, his family moved to Barbados. He attended British schools, where there was much emphasis on reading and writing, and teachers made learning a lot of fun. When the family moved to south Florida, he found his new classmates uninterested in their studies, and his teachers spent most of their time disciplining students. Jack retreated to an abandoned bookmobile (three flat tires and empty of books) parked out behind the sandy ball field, and read for most of the day. The seeds for Jack’s writing career were planted in sixth grade, when he read his sister’s diary and decided he could write better than she could. He begged his mother for a diary and began to collect anecdotes he overheard at school, mostly from standing outside the teachers’ lounge and listening to their lunchtime conversations. Later, he incorporated many of these anecdotes into stories.  While in college, he and an illustrator friend, Nicole Rubel, began working on picture books. After a series of well-deserved rejections, they published their first book, Rotten Ralph, in 1976. It was a success and the beginning of Jack’s career as a professional writer. Jack continued to write children’s books and began to teach courses in children’s book writing and children’s literature. He developed the master’s degree program in children’s book writing at Emerson College and the Vermont College M.F.A. program for children’s book writers. He now devotes his time to writing books and educational speaking. He lives with his family in Boston, Massachusetts.


Reviews

Goodreads review by karen on May 23, 2020

seriously? montambo recommended this book to me because i fear twins and their freakish abilities and the way they want to use mind control on us all. this book didn't make me change my mind w/r/t their potential for evil. at all. * but for a teen audience, this? it opens with a wallace stevens quote......more

Goodreads review by Jesse on September 14, 2007

An extremely twisted story. The whole idea of taxidermy on humans is rather repulsive by common moral standards. But when maternal love is thrown into the picture, some may see this practice as nothing less than normal. Oh, and there is also the idea of eliminating men from the gene pool altogether.......more

Goodreads review by Jennifer on July 05, 2008

Like a car wreck. You want to look away, but you just cant.......more

Goodreads review by Beth on May 16, 2017

A truly superb book. One of my favourites. Literary without being pretentious, interesting without being contrived, gothic without being repulsive. This book was deeply creepy, eerie and fascinating. The characters were amazingly well-drawn. The entire book held together as a coherent whole. It was......more

Goodreads review by Luna's Little Library on January 14, 2013

One day young Ivy discovers Mother Rumbaughs in the cellar of The Twins. First thinking the still figure is a life-sized doll Ivy is fascinated, once she realises it is actually the late Mother Rumbaughs she runs screaming from the cellar and into her arms of her mother. And thus the Rumbaughs curse......more