In Implosion: A Memoir of An Architect’s Daughter, Elizabeth Garber tells the story of growing up in a glass house designed by her famous father, Woodie Garber, who was referred to as “Cincinnati’s most extreme, experimental and creative Modern architect”. The story is set against the backdrop of the turbulent 60s in Cincinnati and explores the impact this tumultuous time has on this family.

Garber skillfully reveals the complexities of this man through the eyes of a young girl who is in awe of his knowledge of modern architecture, his accomplishments as an architect and his love of teaching. As a reader, I was a little stymied in the beginning by the technical language but the further I got into the story, the more I appreciated the intricacies associated with his thought process which serves as a trigger for his subsequent mental illness and abuse.

This is a multilayered story about a man who quickly rose to fame with his radical beliefs about modernism but then became a victim of major social change. We see this brilliant man unraveling and embattling himself against his wife and two children. He made his family his enemy and became impossible to live with—demanding them to follow his strange and unconventional rules such as constant work, walking around naked, not allowing the bathroom door to be closed and photographing his children in various stages of puberty. His rules included no boundaries and no questioning the rules.

The author describes going from a young girl who cherished the experience of living in a light-filled modern house that was different than anyone else’s home to a tortured teen who was being held hostage to this man’s delusions eventually escaping to establish a life of her own. Despite her abusive childhood, the author shares how her father’s enthusiasm and passionate creativity for his work remain an inspiration to her.

A well-written and engaging story that not only sheds a light on modernism but also shows how the love between a father and daughter can endure even through the challenges caused by mental illness and abuse. ( )