Book Journey Traveled to: New York!!!
If in the area, be sure to check out Creekside Books and Coffee
288 pages
Cover Story: Is an A+. The cover is relevant to the book and gives you a hint of what you are about to be in for.
For generations the Burdens were one of the wealthiest
families in New York, thanks to the inherited fortune of
Cornelius “The Commodore” Vanderbilt. By 1955, the
year of Wendy’s birth, the Burdens had become a clan
of overfunded, quirky and brainy, steadfastly chauvinistic,
and ultimately doomed bluebloods on the verge of financial
and moral decline-and were rarely seen not holding a drink.
In Dead End Gene Pool, Wendy invites readers to meet her
tragically flawed family, including an uncle with a fondness for
Hitler, a grandfather who believes you can never have enough
household staff, and a remarkably flatulent grandmother.
º º º º
Dipping a toe into the shallow end of this book, I entered slowly, having no background information to the Vanderbilt’s or the Burdens. The water is warm…
Cornelius Vanderbilt died in 1877 leaving behind a fortune of 167 million dollars. All of this was left to his only son, William who after doubling this astronomical amount of money, died 8 years later. This book, written by Wendy Burden ( the great- great -great grand daughter of Cornelious) is about growing up with a family surrounded by great wealth, and great dysfunction.
Wendy’s father had committed suicide when she was 6, and her mother who could not be burdened with children left the three children in the care of a nanny, while she traveled everywhere looking for the perfect tan.
Wendy Burden writes this memoir with a witty and humorous pen. I get a little sense of Jeanette Walls memoir of Glass Castles, but this is not as horrifying. An interesting look into a family that battles drugs and alcohol issues, a lifestyle that few of us would know – but after reading Wendy’s book and eye-popping realities of at times what I can only describe as “gag inducing”, it is remarkable that Wendy came out the other side as well as she did.
About The Author
Wendy Burden is a confirmed 
New Yorker who, to her constant
surprise, lives in Portland, Oregon.
She is the great-great-great-great
granddaughter of Cornelius Vanderbilt,
which qualifies her to comment freely on
the downward spiral of blue blood families.
She has worked as an illustrator, a zookeeper,
and a taxidermist; and as an art director for
a pornographic magazine from which she was
fired for being too tasteful. She was also the
owner and chef of a small French restaurant,
Chez Wendy. She has yet to attend mortuary
school, but is planning on it.
Book Journey 
