Awake - Hardcover

Graver, Elizabeth

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0805065393 ISBN 13: 9780805065398

Publisher: Henry Holt & Company Inc, 2004

Synopsis

Once a painter, a traveller, a lover of light, Anna Simon has been living in the dark ever since she gave birth to Max, a child with a rare genetic disease for whom even an hour in sunlight could prove fatal. For years, Anna has home schooled Max and structured her life around his, despite the fact that her husband, Ian, favours mainstreaming. When Anna learns of a camp in upstate New York for children with the disease, she sees room for a compromise-a sanctuary for Max, a place where he can interact with other children and be both safe and free. And so the summer that Max is nine, the family heads off to Camp Tuna. At first, it seems like the answer to their problems. But as Anna is drawn into life there and gets to know Hal, the camp's charismatic founder, freedom and safety prove to be complicated things. What begins as a novel about a mother with a sick child quickly becomes an intricate examination of one woman's identity as Anna-given sudden breathing room-looks around at her life and finds that she has lost track of essential pieces of herself. What, exactly, are safety and freedom? And at what cost-to one's self and the people in one's life-should they be protected and pursued?

About this title

Review:

Elizabeth Graver has an astonishing ability to imagine her way deep inside her characters, illuminating complex lives and situations. This is a passionate, deeply engaging novel." --Andrea Barrett"Graver's sublimely honest first-person narrative powerfully imparts Anna's confusion with empathic sensitivity." --"Booklist""A beautifully constructed tribute to self-sacrificing parenting that segues into a clear-eyed anatomy of the inevitable destructive power of infidelity."--starred" Library Journal""Gracefully written and emotionally rich...Graver's lyrical portrait of a thoughtful woman in crisis will resonate with many readers." --"Publishers Weekly"

About the Author:

Elizabeth Graver is the author of "Unravelling "and "The Honey Thief," both of which were "New York Times "Notable Books. Her work has been included in "Best American Short Stories" and "Best American Essays," as well as in" Prize Stories: The O. Henry Awards." She lives in Massachusetts and teaches at Boston College.

About this edition

• Publisher: Henry Holt & Company Inc
• Publication date: 2004
• ISBN 10: 0805065393
• ISBN 13: 9780805065398
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 304