Reflections from a Glass House

A Memoir of Mid-Century Modern Mayhem

By: Carol Sveilich

Narrated by: Laura Patinkin

Length: 22 hrs and 8 mins

Publisher's summary

Do you know the way to San Jose?

In the years just before the Santa Clara Valley morphed into Silicon Valley, it was a sleepy agricultural basin dotted with cherry orchards. Carol Sveilich’s youth in San Jose was a combo platter of glass walls, cool music, useless gadgets, groovy neighbors, and worry. And, oh yes—sex, drugs, and rock ‘n’ roll.

If you were to scoop equal parts Rocky and Bullwinkle, Groucho Marx, Dave Brubeck, and The Beatles into a Waring blender, then pour the concoction into a punch bowl, you’d have real trouble. And indigestion. And likely an arrest for manslaughter. But you’d also have a taste of the author’s life growing up in the midst of the 1960s Bay Area counterculture.

Two reluctant parents from New York City, who loved a weekend party, every weekend, plus two kids on the loose equaled too much distress and plenty of adventures. The decade was filled with dreams and a distrust of the establishment, while popular culture overflowed with patchouli incense, psychedelic music, florescent posters, love beads, and TV dinners in aluminum trays.

In Reflections from a Glass House, the indelible memories of fumbling through school and the passage through adolescence near the “City of Love” are masterfully awash with comedic prose, amusing storytelling, and gut-wrenching recollections. Sveilich writes with observant precision about nostalgia, the highs and lows of youth, and the darkness of growing up in a family of disconnected souls that had humor as its connective tissue.

While each member of Sveilich’s nuclear family seemed to reign from different solar systems, they also shared a quirky home in a distinctive and progressive neighborhood of unique midcentury modern houses called Eichlers. These were futuristic but affordable homes constructed of glass walls, an open atrium in the middle of the dwelling, and ceiling globes that hung like planets. The author’s own Eichler was filled with cats, chaos, and secret liaisons.

Sveilich’s candid, touching, and often hilarious life story wraps around her family’s home and neighborhood in a time filled with both angst and amusement. Baby Boomers will recognize themselves in Sveilich’s mirror and young people will learn what it was like to try to “get back to the garden”.

Whether you grew up in the 1960s, or if you lived through the decade but never really grew up, you’re going to enjoy Sveilich’s ride through the music and pop culture scene with her family of misfits and friends by proximity. With the forensic eye of a counselor and the delicate heart of a complex youngster, Sveilich’s story and musings are both heartbreaking and hysterical.

©2020 Carol Sveilich (P)2022 Carol Sveilich

Binge Listening

If you ever came of age or if you've lived through the sixties, or better still, both at once, you will love this auditory journey into the life and mind of the wonderful author, Carol Sveilich. She brings you with her into a labyrinth of jaw dropping experiences and deep insights with a backdrop of TV dinners and shag carpet awash in a soundtrack of Coltrane, Chubby Checkers and The Beatles. Speaking of sound, this audio version is read beautifully in a clear voice which is easy to follow. No need to rewind (although you may want to, just for the pleasure of savoring the words). But the best part is getting to know the young Carol Sveilich. My only regret is that I can't really go back in time and stand under a street light in a San Jose neighborhood singing show tunes with this sensitive, funny, adventurous, poetic girl. This book is the next best thing.

Lots to relate to, for people of a certain age

I read the book shortly after it was published, and thoroughly enjoyed it. Having grown up in California during the same years, there was plenty of overlap with my own memories.

I recently listened to the audio version, and it took on a new dimension. Laura Patinkin did a nice interpretation, and the cast of characters was believable.

Carol Sveilich has a knack for distilling the stories of her life - and our lives - with color, humor and insight. I recommend the book to anyone who wants to visit or relive this unique place and time; the mid-century suburban American experience.

BRAVO! ENCORE!

I thoroughly enjoyed the book and now the narration is an added treat! I grew up in the North Bay area outside San Francisco and Carol was in the South Bay, so the book is totally relatable for me and captures the angst of growing up and finding one’s way in the world and family dynamics and trying things on for size and how confusing it all was but everybody was confused, I realize now. I’m glad to have come of age in that era. It was a simpler time and this book captures it perfectly. The narration is perfect for the book. There’s a knowing, a touch of wry in the voice. BRAVO!

Magnificent Mayhem

Carol Sveilich is not just a writer, she's an artist; she paints her scenes with words. Her attention to detail is staggering. I grew up in San Jose at the same time Carol did, but I don't remember a tenth of what she does. Her memoir is a time capsule covering a period in history that may be unique to the Bay Area, but it also transcends it.

I read "Reflections from a Glass House" when it came out, but listening to it as been a new wonderful experience. The narrator, Laura Patinkin (actor, voice actor and cousin of Mandy Patinkin--I googled her because I really liked her voice), brings nuance to the story and the mayhem to a boil. I laughed out loud numerous times.

What an enjoyable listen!