I read this book because I was intrigued by the author's novel, A Reliable Wife. End of the World is a very moving memoir that leaves you wondering how the author makes it through the day, and I'm astounded that he has the energy to produce 2 very fine books. The tragic effects of bad parenting are heartbreaking and I won't forget this family. The two books together could lead to a great book group discussion. Mr Goolrick: Please keep writing. We need your voice. ( )

the more i read, the more i liked the book. at the end, i cried. for robert goolrick. i wish i could help him. could change his life, as it was. ( )

I've had this book for nearly a year and just got around to reading it - in just two extended sittings. This is a memoir that reads like a novel. It grabs you by the shirt on page one and yanks you along to the bitter end - and it really is a bitter one. Goolrick is, it would seem, a very screwed up guy, who does not hesitate to admit. But he earned his screwed-up-ness the hard way, through a sad history of abuse, both subtle and physically horrific. A failed suicide who "cuts himself" and a sad man who has endured unhappy love affairs with both sexes, this guy's story just hurts to read sometimes. But his style is near hypnotic. There is nothing fancy or flowery about it. It is terse, stripped-to-the-bone and to-the-point language. There is not a wasted word. It is a mesmerizing look at what it was like to be a part of the "genteel poor" on the academic cocktail circuit in Virginia in the fifties and sixties. This is a slice of America from those times, but not a very tasty one. Goolrick's story is raw and painful, and I often found myself wincing in horror at what he reported. Unhappy or not, this guy can WRITE! I plan to read his novel soon. ( )

All of a sudden, in the middle of this book, the writing changed and it became a searing, exquisitely written, amazing turning inside out of a devastated man's soul. ( )