This book contains many creative essays. Some are one to two page long observations that give pretext to the story that is told so vividly afterwards. Some stories are more personal to Cooper as you continue reading and those stories are what make this book as great as it is. The essays about his relationship with his father are very good and detailed but the longest entry is entitled "The House of the Future". It is thirty pages long and it is very beautiful. There is another essay that stands out in this book, which is about the death of his older brother. I could not put the book down during the essay about the death of his older brother.
The language and images are extremely vivid, and the stories are enveloping. I love the quote at the beginning of "The House of the Future" that says " each of my buildings is a further step in my search for clarity."The underlined word in this section title says A Reminiscence which gives the idea that this one of the personal stories from Bernard Cooper. This leads me to believe that the buildings are metaphorical for the creative essays that he's writing to gain clarity within his life which is very interesting. This story in particular lead me to appreciate the imagery, details, and creative intensity of Bernard Cooper's work.
The description of the House of the Future was unique. I like the sentence that states " The cruciform floor plan of the House of the Future-three bedrooms, two baths-had this caption beneath: "The winged design of your new home assures full daylight for every room."I particularly enjoyed the sections where Bernard Cooper braided his thoughts about art and architecture, through his impressions of childhood. This is a great collection for demonstrating how the power of an essay is not dictated by length but by the creativity and fullness of literary composition. I really liked how in the House of the Future he talked about many different houses like the Dog house and Fire house.
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