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Ever since I’ve known Howard, he’s been dead. Author, Patricia Kambitsch, tells how her father's untimely death spurred a lifetime of storytelling. However dead he may be, Howard, the mild-mannered, über-geek hero, thrives through the collective memories and imagination of his widow and six children. Questions of what really happened to her father give way to fantasy suspicions that include the questionable next-door neighbor who was last seen with her father, secret government projects, and alien abduction. Truer tales range from imaginative family antics at graveside, to bullying in the bathtub, to playing Jesus on the sidewalk. In the end, answers to the questions become less important than truths revealed through the re-creation of the past through shared memories.
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Reviews and Accolades In this irreverent memoir, Patricia Kambitsch writes about growing up
as the youngest of six, then twelve, siblings (when her widowed mother
marries a man who also has six kids) in what she calls "the David Lynchian,
nightmare version of the Brady Bunch that was my life." Patricia's father,
Howard, died falling from a fishing boat when she was three. From that
day on, she sees Howard everywhere and recreates him in memory as the
father who perhaps left them for a secret mission because she wasn't good
enough, even though a handful of Kodak photos reveal undisputedly that
he always loved her best. Meanwhile, their devout Catholic mother tells
anyone who will listen (including her second husband) what a hunky geek
and great kisser Howard was, and makes the children say daily Rosaries
to help him escape Limbo. The Kambitsch kids tease each other mercilessly,
especially the littlest sister with the "shaggy hair and pointy butt."
Moving seamlessly between past and present, this hilarious book shows
how childhood traumas are cushioned when you're surrounded by siblings
with keen senses of irony and humor, even when much of the trauma is actually
inflicted by them. "Captivating, full of great twists and a fabulous read." "It's a book filled with often startling emotion… the whole world of
family, of identity, of profound pain and humor." "In a world where sticky sentimentality is the norm, Looks Like Howard
is a completely irreverent, original, funny, poignant romp through the
wicked imagination of the author -- an imagination that finds Howard nowhere,
and in a heart beat, everywhere." |
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About the Author As one of thirteen brothers and sisters, Patricia Kambitsch triumphs over the chaos of her cold war childhood by telling dark and funny stories about her unsuspecting family. Looks Like Howard, springs from a child's innocent viewpoint of death, family conflict, and nightmares of apocalypse. Invention overcomes reality, with the goofy wisdom of childhood winning over the tragic mysteries of life. Kambitsch treats memoir as a continuum of expression, ranging from objectified personal experience to life-inventing fantasy. Kambitsch is host and facilitator of several long-standing creative arts programs in Dayton, Ohio including an interdisciplinary arts salon, creative arts workshops, and writers' groups. When not in Ohio, she is stirring up communities of participatory art in Toronto, where she also resides with her husband, Peter Jones. |
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