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Modern
Times
Hardcover, 288 pages
$24.95
ISBN-10: 1594865299
ISBN-13: 978-1594865299
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Bedtime Stories
Adventures in the Land of Single Fatherhood
READ AN EXCERPT IN SALON
"Ellis relates his story of heartbreak and child-rearing with candor, comedy and self-awareness, making this emotionally turbulent ride instantly and tirelessly engaging....Ellis and his memoir deserve a place among pop culture's most beloved Mr. Moms." —Publishers Weekly (starred review).
“A moving, funny, down-to-earth, sexy and delightful account of a
uniquely caring, passionate and eloquent father's journey into and
through single fatherhood — a great gift for anyone who values the
true dramas of committed parenting.”
— Naomi Wolf
I have been working on Bedtime Stories for over three years now but
even several years earlier I had been itching to start a memoir.
Reading Dave Eggers’s A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius inspired me to finally dive in. I loved the idea of writing a funny,
experimental novel about myself and the difficulties I’ve
encountered. In so many romans a clefs the author tweaks the facts
and his or her own personality traits to make themselves seem either
more heroic or more anti-heroic than they really are. The James Frey
debacle is a perfect example of the anti-heroic. I was determined to
capture the unvarnished truth so I included events that evoke pity:
my parents’ early deaths, my wife leaving me to raise our then
three-year-old girl and eight-month-old boy, as well as revulsion:
internet porn and Brazilian hookers, as well as envy: beautiful
French actresses, models, and an Italian countess. As you will see
in the book, the reason it took so long to finish was that I was
living a life in search of an ending. By the end I was tempted to
rob a bank or run naked and screaming into a mental hospital to give
the memoir a big finish. Instead, I learned some amazing lessons
about myself. At forty-four, I finally grew up.
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