The Time Mom Met Hitler, Frost Came to Dinner, and I Heard the Greatest Story Ever Told

He was predestined for literary greatness. If only his father hadn’t used up all the words.
As the son of the Pulitzer Prize–winning poet Richard Eberhart, Dikkon Eberhart grew up surrounded by literary giants. Dinner guests included, among others, Robert Frost, Dylan Thomas, Allen Ginsberg, W. H. Auden, and T. S. Eliot, all of whom flocked to the Eberhart house to discuss, debate, and dissect the poetry of the day. To the world, they were literary icons. To Dikkon, they were friends who read him bedtime stories, gave him advice, and, on one particularly memorable occasion, helped him with his English homework. Anxious to escape his famous father’s shadow, Dikkon struggled for decades to forge an identity of his own, first in writing and then on the stage, before inadvertently stumbling upon the answer he’d been looking for all along—in the most unlikely of places. Brimming with unforgettable stories featuring some of the most colorful characters of the Beat Generation, The Time Mom Met Hitler, Frost Came to Dinner, and I Heard the Greatest Story Ever Told is a winsome coming-of-age story about one man’s search for identity and what happens when he finally finds it.

My thoughts: What a gorgeous book! I enjoyed reading about Dikkon Eberhart growing up in the shadow of a lot of the 20th century's greatest poets, from Frost to Sylvia Plath, T.S. Eliot (one of my personal favorites) to Allen Ginsberg. Growing up in the shadow of his father, who was also a poet, isn't easy. I love how Dikkon shares openly about how lonely he felt, despite the high profile people he grew up around and the loving family wife and children he had as an adult. This book is a rare glimpse into an era gone by. Those who love literature and poetry, this one if for you!
I received this book from Tyndale in exchange for my honest review.