{"product_id":"what-remains-object-lessons-in-love-and-loss-9781487000394","title":"What Remains: Object Lessons in Love and Loss","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eA funny, poignant, and at times heartbreaking memoir about one mother and her love of beautiful \u003ci\u003eobjets \u003c\/i\u003e-- and how it ultimately proved destructive.\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eBeing left with a strand of even the highest quality milky-white pearls isn't quite the same thing as pearls of wisdom to live by, as Karen von Hahn reveals in her memoir about her stylish and captivating mother, Susan -- a mercurial, grandiose, Guerlain-and-vodka-soaked narcissist whose search for glamour and fulfillment through the acquisition and collection of beautiful things ultimately proved hollow.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eA tale of growing up in 1970s and 1980s Toronto in the fabulousness of a bourgeois Jew-\u003ci\u003eish\u003c\/i\u003e family that valued panache over pragmatism and making a design statement over substance, von Hahn's recollections of her dramatic and domineering mother are exemplified by the objects she held most dear: from a strand of prized pearls, to a Venetian mirror worthy of the palace of Versailles, to the silver satin sofas that were the epitome of her signature style. She also describes the misunderstandings and sometimes hurt and pain that come with being raised by her stunning, larger-than-life mother who in many ways embodied the flash-and-glam, high-flying, wealth-accumulating generation that gave birth to our modern-day material culture.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eAlternating between satire and sadness, von Hahn reconstructs the past through a series of exquisitely impressionistic memories, ultimately questioning the value of the things we hold dear and -- after her complicated, yet impossible-to-forget mother is gone -- what exactly remains.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eAbout the Author\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eVon Hahn, Karen:\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e - \u003cp\u003eKAREN VON HAHN is a columnist with the Toronto Star. For more than twenty-five years she has reported on trends in life and style for publications such as the \u003cem\u003eGlobe and Mail\u003c\/em\u003e, \u003cem\u003eMore\u003c\/em\u003e, \u003cem\u003eFashion\u003c\/em\u003e, \u003cem\u003eHouse \u0026amp; Home\u003c\/em\u003e, \u003cem\u003een Route\u003c\/em\u003e, and \u003cem\u003eToronto Life.\u003c\/em\u003e She was also the editor-in-chief of \u003cem\u003eKingWest\u003c\/em\u003e magazine and the host and producer of \u003cem\u003eThe Goods\u003c\/em\u003e for the Life television network. Her first book was \u003cem\u003eKaren von Hahn's Hip Guide: Toronto\u003c\/em\u003e.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"House of Anansi Press","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":50850964865298,"sku":"9781487000394","price":17.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0831\/4771\/8930\/files\/img_010b04f1-903c-4462-9a13-05df5965b5ef.jpg?v=1737421795","url":"https:\/\/surprise-castle.myshopify.com\/products\/what-remains-object-lessons-in-love-and-loss-9781487000394","provider":"Surprise Castle","version":"1.0","type":"link"}