We Go On Hurting Each Other

"As explored by Schmidt, the Carpenters’ story is a pitiable variation on an old theme: that of a ’50s American family with its head in the sand, unable to grasp how anything could have gone so wrong. The duo’s roots are fairly mundane for their time. The father, Harold Carpenter, worked in the printing business; Agnes was a clean-freak housewife and an unashamed bigot. Richard and Karen grew up on the sanitized pop music of the ’50s; he played organ in church, and she studied drums, an instrument she would long hide behind during their shows."

James Gavin in The New York Times reviews Randy L. Schmidt's Little Girl Blue: The Life of Karen Carpenter.