The Outside of August.Joanna Hershon. 2003. Read by Kate Reading. 7-1.5 hour tapes. Books on Tape. 0-7366-9406-4. $64.00. Vinyl; plot notes. A The Greens live in a huge, neglected, old waterfront house on Long Island. The father, Allen, is busy with important scientific work; the mother, Charlotte, is busy with frequent trips to exotic places; the son, August, is busy enjoying dangerous activities often associated with bodies of water; and the daughter, Alice, is busy trying to win their love and understanding. She fails, for the most part. The plot follows Alice from her childhood through her early 30s, when a not-too-surprising family secret is finally revealed; and deftly weaves in the love-hate relationships, Oedipal complexes, and sibling rivalry sibling rivalry Psychology The intense, emotional competition among siblings–brothers and/or sisters that pits one against the other to obtain parental affection, approval, attention, and love. See Cain complex. Cf Oy child, Sibling relational problem. occurring in the family members, who all bear psychological wounds. Reading's precise, elegant, mannered style of semi-voiced narration is well suited to this story of a dysfunctional family dysfunctional family Psychology A family with multiple 'internal'–eg sibling rivalries, parent-child– conflicts, domestic violence, mental illness, single parenthood, or 'external'–eg alcohol or drug abuse, extramarital affairs, gambling, , written in an equally mannered style. The settings of New York New York, state, United States New York, Middle Atlantic state of the United States. It is bordered by Vermont, Massachusetts, Connecticut, and the Atlantic Ocean (E), New Jersey and Pennsylvania (S), Lakes Erie and Ontario and the Canadian province of and Baja California Baja California, state, Mexico Baja California (Span.: bä`hä kälēfōr`nyä), state (1990 pop. 1,660,855), 27,628 sq mi (71,576 sq km), NW Mexico, on the Baja California peninsula. Mexicali is the capital. are vividly described, but often the similes and metaphors employed are bizarre, like the Greens themselves. Reading brings their characters to life and moves the action along with an appropriate sense of foreboding fore·bod·ing n. 1. A sense of impending evil or misfortune. 2. An evil omen; a portent. adj. Marked by or indicative of foreboding; ominous. and hopes unrealized. Pat Dole, Richmond, VA |
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