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I wasn't sure what to make of this oddly-titled little book at first. For a fifty-five year old man, the loss of one's parents should be a time of poignancy but hardly a unique experience or the stuff of tragedy. So why write a book about it? Christopher Buckley addresses this question in his introduction, where he explains without any trace of self-importance that his parents were no ordinary mom and dad. For his father was William F. Buckley Jr., the redoubtable WFB as he is known to readers of the National Review, the conservative journal he established in the 1950's. Buckley went on to become one of the founding fathers of the modern conservative political movement in America. The book focuses largely on the period leading up to Buckley's 2008 death during which his body was failing and his mind was addled with medication. The bouts of depression and mania, irrational demands, confusion and so forth all will sound familiar to anyone who has helped nurse a family member through the final stage of life. The great William F. Buckley Jr. through much of this account could be anyone's dying father. But Christopher interweaves around all this an array of anecdotes from his own childhood and from his father's active life. WFB published enough commentary and literature to fill a library, and his roster of personal friends reads like the top rung of America's Who's Who. Clearly this was not just anybody's father. The juxtaposition of world-class glamour and the gritty pathos of dying is the crux of what the book is about. Christopher's mother gets shorter shrift. Patricia Buckley was brilliant socialite in her own right and an iron-willed fixture at her husband's side for sixty years. Christopher loved and respected her too, but the relationship was apparently strained much of the time, and his account leaves much to the imagination. She died ten months before her husband, and thus Christopher's life for over a year revolved around hospitals, doctors, drugs, tubes, monitors, grim news and tough decisions. All this too will sound familiar to people who have experienced it. His weariness is evident throughout the book, but he still manages to infuse the story with respectful humor and gentle irony. For me, the book's main strength was it's honesty. Christopher doesn't shy away from much, and he reveals certain things about both his parents that might well disappoint their admirers. He handles these issues without any apparent embarrassment or attempt to rationalize. The book also benefits from a highly accessible style. Christopher, like his father, is a writer by trade, and he exhibits both a crisp efficiency with words and an engaging voice. The downside of the book is that there is nothing particularly deep about it, for readers who might be expecting more. Christopher has lived a privileged life, and he has clearly never escaped the gravitational pull of his famous family. He seems to have inherited his father's literary talent, but not his free-ranging intellect or philosophical fire in the belly. At the same time, he doesn't pretend to any of this, and the book stands well on its own terms.
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Christopher Buckley is the only child of the late larger than life couple of William F. Buckley, Jr. and Patricia Buckley. William was well known for his conservative newspaper column, his books and the TV show Firing Line. Patricia was well known for her glamour and her skills as a hostess.
Obviously, with parents like that, Christopher didn't have an ordinary childhood. Politicians, celebrities and actors were frequent guests in the Buckley household. Trips to exotic places around the world were common. Christopher really didn't know that his parents were all that different from anyone else's until he was a teenager and away at boarding school, though. After his parents visited, comments from other students made him realize how unique his family was.
William and Patricia died within a year of each other and, being an only child, Christopher was the one who had to deal with making health care decisions at the end, and handling funeral and burial details.
I listened to the audio version Losing Mum and Pup which is written and read by Christopher Buckley. I wasn't sure this was the right book for me since both of my parents are in their eighties and my dad has had some struggles lately. I decided to give it a try and just stop listening if the book became too emotional for me, and I'm glad I did.
This book certainly has some emotional moments, but it really doesn't focus on the end of William and Patricia's lives - rather it focuses on their relationship and what it was like to grow up with larger than life parents like them. It's a celebration of living life to its fullest. Christopher said his goal in writing the book was to make it a "testament to their devotion," and I think he succeeded admirably. Losing Mum and Pup had the potential to be a terribly sad book, but Christopher's humor keeps it from being too heavy. This book is a loving tribute to his parents written by their adult son who still misses them. I think fans of memoirs and William F. Buckley, Jr. will enjoy this story, like I did.
Rating:  -
I've always found Wm. Buckley an interesting person. When I saw his son had written abook about his parents I grabbed it.
I was on a trip from CA to Ny and read it on the first phase of my trip. It is a wonderful heart warming memoir of his parents.
Rating:  -
It reads like the private life of the master race. Money problems? Never. Anglophile upper class drawl? Always.
Before you go all gooey over Losing Mum and Pup, you should remember that Bill Buckley was a friend to Rush Limbaugh as well as Ronald Reagan, an ardent supporter of Barry Goldwater, and an apologist for Joseph McCarthy. He was a racist (of the genteel variety of course), very likely an anti-Semite, and a big time homophobe. It is perhaps poetic justice that Buckley is now being celebrated as "the father" of modern American conservatism since early on he embodied all of that movement's racist and authoritarian tendencies.
When he isn't gazing at his own navel, Christopher Buckley seems rather proud of Mum and Pup. If I'd had them as parents, I'd figure the better part of wisdom would be to keep quiet about it.
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It seems that most of the 1 & 2 star reviews convey anger at Christopher Buckley for writing a "Mommy Dearest" kind of memoir about his parents. I can understand those people seeing this book in that light, especially after Christo burned his father in effigy by voting for Obama, but I don't share their perspective.
Rather, what I saw was a man, albeit a man who was born "somebody" because of who his parents were, trying to make sense of the impact they had on his life. Losing Mum and Pup is neither hagiography, nor a smear piece. It is a mixed bag - full of admiration, affection, and childlike sentiments along the lines of "My mom and dad are the best parents in the world", juxtaposed with the adult like awareness that his parents were flawed, at times hurtful, and all too human. I applaud any grown up who can comfortably describe their parents in that light, rather than as "all good" or "all bad", which is the default position for most people.
What makes this book so good is that Christopher Buckley can expose his hurt one minute, and then have a laugh about something else the next. He does not obsess over one thing or another, unable to get past it, again, as most of us do. The fact that I could cringe at his pain AND laugh at his devilish observations made this an enjoyable read for me. I also think many critics mistook his self-deprecation for snobbery.
Marvelously written; witty, sad, cathartic, insightful, Buckley has a gift for writing - no doubt, born out of an insatiable need to please and connect with his demanding father. If that is the case, then WFB unwittingly gave his son a gift that will keep on giving. I plan to read more "Buckley 2.0"
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