A Carlin Home Companion: Growing Up with George

It took me several months to finish this book due to the weight of the emotional revelations generated by Kelly’s reflection of her life. Radical changes have been made to my perception of fame and my own un-famous perspective. Kelly is impressive not because of her famous name, but because we are so alike. It’s very possible that Kelly and I are  not-too-distant cousins, our Irish New Yorker lineage sharing the surname “Grady”, her stubborn branch refusing to give up the “O’” makes sense. Her memoirs are full of all too familiar struggles with codependence, raised by alcoholics, living in the shadow of her father, finding herself through understanding the mind… every step a loving tribute to life lessons learned the hard way.Kelly’s honesty about past relationship problems and years spent prioritizing the needs of others over her own, made me feel less alone in similar experiences. Her master’s in Jungian Psychology shows through her deeply self-reflective omnipresence of the shadow. She tells us how she feels in each memory in a way that we sympathize with her state of mind at the time.I very rarely weep while reading a book, but I straight-up ugly cried at several points in this memoir. The deaths of her parents, separated by eleven years (same length as her first marriage… hmm) instills the primal tension we all feel from birth. The loss of security, the relief of finality, and the desolate emptiness of grief are expressed in such a cathartic, therapeutic way. When I finished this book, I felt cleansed… relieved of pain and tension I didn’t realize I was carrying around.Kelly was brave enough to expose her deepest, darkest thoughts and Carlin-enough to give the reader a few hard belly laughs every few paragraphs. Behavioral psychologists could study the evolution of Kelly’s writing out from under the all-consuming Carlin light and still never conclude a winner in nature vs. nurture. Did Kelly inherit the genius acerbic wit of her father or did she have to work that much harder to distinguish herself from everyone’s favorite Comedy Daddy? Maybe it was a little of both?I enjoyed learning about Kelly’s life, thus gaining plenty of self-reflective perspective. I wouldn’t say this memoir is an “easy read”, but Kelly is an easy person. She expresses herself with the friendly openness of a good friend and a compassionate human, bringing people in while she heals them. Her writing displays these qualities like brilliantly colored vintage photographs under glossy pages in an album. The warm, gooey nostalgia of memories encased in time.Kelly makes me want to listen to everything she has to say because I know I’m going to learn something. Her writing somehow makes me feel both at home and homesick. I’m grateful to her for giving so much of herself so that this book can exist. It’s medicinal.

Most people will buy this book because, like me, they loved George Carlin and want to know more about who the man was behind the scenes. You'll get that here in heaping doses but you'll get something else perhaps even more important: this is a not a book about George, it's a book about Kelly. You may detect a tinge of irony in that as you read on hungry for more juicy stories peppered with controlled substances, you'll transition to that notion on your own and you yourself may begin to understand what it must have been like being George Carlin's daughter as opposed to "Kelly." I think that may be the point after all. What I took away from it is something George Himself said: "You didn't get it from licking it off the rocks," meaning, the talent we knew from George, lives on through Kelly. I'm excited to see where she takes it.

Ugh. I've never been so glad to come to the end of a book, knowing I would never again have to be bogged down in the super entitled, pampered and privileged perspectives of Kelly Carlin again. I mean, seriously, go in peace, my sister, or go in confusion . . . but go already.Don't read it. Go read something by George. Or really . . . anyone else. Anyone. Ok, not Ivanka.

George Carlin, except when he is packing his suitcase and off on a trip for a gig. I admittedly did NOT finish this book because I kept falling asleep. There are SO many other good reads I want to experience out there, not this one. I will not take anything away from this woman, must be hell to live with 2 dysfunctional parents, but she was luckier than most to escape unscathed. What was in my head to buy this book? Well, looking back I wanted to experience his genius thru his daughter. Didn't get that. I thought being an extraordinary person I would learn some extraordinary things about my idol. Didn't happen. This is just a so-so diary of a person, her daily life, her daily experiences and there are TONS more fascinating people to read than this lady. HUGE waste of time. Sorry George, Sweet kid, but a no-go here. Hope you are yukking it up wherever you landed and giving the Lord or the devil a run for their money....JUST KIDDING. As a fellow atheist I just couldn't resist. Loving you George!!!

While George Carlin was a favorite comedian for many of us, including me, his daughter Kelly's book, "A Carlin Home Companion", doesn't do much to enlighten the reader. As one can imagine, George Carlin's life was an ongoing soap opera and with the addition of his alcoholic wife, Kelly had no chance to be something other than an adult growing up. The problem with this book is that it's written as a teenager might write it...overly emotional and not very succinct. Yes, she does love her parents and finally straightens out her own life, but the narrative is exhaustingly overwrought, with occasional endearing passages.

A fascinating, well written account of the life of Kelly Carlin, comedy legend George Carlin’s daughter. I highly recommend. As a huge fan of George Carlin, it was a must read. And after I finished the book… I’m now a huge fan of Kelly Carlin too. A great read.

It is indeed a Carlin home companion. Kelly Carlin does a great job of bringing her dad into everyone's perspective. Awesome read, would recommend the book to other Carlin fans!!

Laughed so much, almost cried many times. Such insight to what an extrodinarily Father he was and how deeply he loved his wife. Not the George Carlin we see on Stage! Loved this book. Only downside, shipping time way too long on ALL books I ordered!IF you loved George on stage, this is a Must Read!

It was a gift for a friend! It was perfect :)

A story of a family and growing up in that family with currents of chaos , gales of laughter, scariness, recovery, change and an enduring and multi dimensional love. A must read for anyone who is interested in how an articulate and thoughtful adult emerges from that bubbling stew of love and family life, particularly when that story involves a person, George Carlin, who is one of the most powerful and influential comedians and comedic philosophers of our time.

Great book from George's daughter, Kelly.

Great novel!

laughed and cried. great read for me.