Once the blind man sees, he cannot continue living in his imagined world.I received this ARC from TJ Dietderich at Plannedtelevisionarts.com, who kindly offered to send me a copy of Aberrations by Penelope Przekop. So thank you, TJ, for giving me the chance to review this stunning debut novel.
Set in Shreveport, Louisiana, in the late 1980s, Aberrations is the story of Angel Duet, a 21-year-old collegue student who suffers from narcolepsy. Angel manages to get through school and work only thanks to her medications; otherwise, she would just sleep all the time. When she befriends Tim and Kimmy, two fellow students and coworkers, her life starts to change.
Angel has always known that her father is keeping secrets from her, especially surrounding the death of her mother, photographer Betty Lou. While apparently searching for the truth and trying to get control of her narcolepsy, Angel is caught in a dizzying worls made of drugs, adultery, and homosexual experiences, which further obscures reality.
When Angel finally learns the truth about her mother, she must come to terms with the fact that accepting reality is the first step towards understanding her father, her family, and herself.
I read this novel as fast as I could, and I'm surprised at how many themes Przekop managed to pack in such a relatively short book (240 pages): parent-child relationships, adultery, homosexuality, narcolepsy and mental illness, the search for mother, and most importantly the search for truth. Angel's narcolepsy is a sort of coping mechanism to get through life without asking herself too many questions:
In order to stay awake, I'd learned to walk through life asleep, believing I had the best sort of existence. Now, I know that pain, joy, life, and the tears they create all intertwine. Without the strenght of one, the others crumble, their combined power no longer able to fill you up. And then you're a ghost, simply moving among the living, feeling empty and shallow.
At first, Angel lives her life idolizing the figure of her own mother, of whom she has no memories except for the pictures of clouds hanging on the walls. She misses a mother figure, and goes around searching for one, while refusing to accept that her father's girlfriend, Carla, could be a sort of stepmum figure for her. After learning the truth about her mother, Angel realizes her own life and beliefs have been rooted in lies; now she is ready to accept Carla's help to keep herself grounded.
I found Aberrations a wonderful novel. The writing is rich in images and metaphors, flowing beautifully across the page. Aberrations is a novel you won't be able to put down; a book to read and re-read, one that is becoming one of my personal favourites.
Other blog reviews:
Other blog reviews:
- Adventures in Never-Never Land
- Kathleen's Book Reviews (which also includes an interview with the author)
- Crescent Book Reviews
- Medieval Bookworm (including interview with the author)
10 Comments:
Love your review! Thanks for linking to me. I'll add your review asap.
Awesome review! Rats, your already adding to my TBR. LOL.
I added a link to this review on the ARC challenge site.
@ Kathleeen: Thank you! It was my pleasure.
@Teddy Rose: Thank you for adding the link! I'm glad you liked my review.
This one's going straight to my wishlist!
Great review! I really loved the book as well. Thank you so much for linking to me. =)
@Meghan: my pleasure!
Just added this book to my list. Thanks for the review.
This book is on my ever growing wish list.
What a nice, thoughtful review.
it sounds like that homosexuality is regarded as an aberration, especially from the trailer. If that's true I don't think I'd be comfortable reading it...
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