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Aberrations | 
| Author: Penelope Przekop
Publisher: Emerald Book Co
Category: Book
List Price: $14.95
Buy New: $7.50
You Save: $7.45 (50%)
New (13) Used (6) from $7.49
Avg. Customer Rating:  21 reviews
Sales Rank: 798748
Media: Paperback
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 336
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.9
Dimensions (in): 8.8 x 5.9 x 0.5
ISBN: 1934572039
Dewey Decimal Number: 813
EAN: 9781934572030
ASIN: 1934572039
Publication Date: July 1, 2008
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Condition: Brand new book!
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Product Description
Twenty-one-year-old narcoleptic Angel Duet knows her father harbors secrets. He loves and protects her, but his suspicious refusal to discuss her mother s death drives Angel to worship an image created from the little history she does have: her father's sketchy stories and her mother's treasured photography, studies of clouds that have hung in the their foyer for more than twenty years. When her father's girlfriend moves in, the photographs come down, and Angel's search for truth becomes an obsession. As she struggles to uncover the past and gain control over the narcolepsy that often fogs her world, Angel descends into a dizzying realm of drugs, adultery, and confused desire that further obscures reality. As Angel begins to expose a history she could never have imagined, she discovers her entire life has been anchored around lies. Accepting the truth, once found, is the key to understanding herself, her family, and her life. To truly awaken, Angel must realize that sometimes the gifts we receive are not what we want--and only in time do we see their worth. At first glance, Aberrations is the story of a young woman who learns to live with her narcolepsy, and who struggles immensely to understand how her mom died when she was born and to discover who her mother really was. But the debut novel of Penelope Przekop moves insightfully into a whole other dimension, showing the reader how each of us lives a life of aberration, that we each have some kind of stigma or conflict or handicap to overcome. We also discover that having the strength to first seek out the truth and then to live with it can be quite challenging.
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| Customer Reviews: Read 16 more reviews...
 A Beautiful Journey September 30, 2008
Angel Duet (a delicious name, I think) is 21 years-old, motherless, in a bad relationship, a narcoleptic, and going nowhere fast. The phrase "sleepwalking through life," corny though it may seem, is apt.
However, as the novel begins, certain changes are beginning to affect Angel. A new woman enters her father's life, and disrupts their shrine (both physical and mental) to Angel's mother, Betty Lou. When Angel takes a job at her college in the agricultural department, she both finds herself spending less time with her married lover, and accidentally letting two friends into her life.
And from there, a series of awakenings occur for Angel, again both physical and mental, as she comes into her own, and takes control of her own life.
The language in this novel is perhaps its most shining feature. Przekop really has a gift for flow and description. The story itself was compelling, don't get me wrong, but with the lovely language used here, it could be significantly weaker and still succeed.
Angel herself is a fascinating, if not always likable character. I think this is a definite strength. After all, if I can spend that much time in a character's head, not always like her, and yet still feel the need to keep reading, that really speaks to the strength of the writing. I thought the narcolepsy was a nice touch. While central to the character of Angel, it also makes a great metaphor for her personal state, as well as a great comparison point for all the aberrations of those that surround her.
Now, I'm going to get the bad out of the way real quick. Some like the use of dialect, but I don't. I found all the cain't and thangs distracting, even though I know people who actually speak like this. I can't quite put my finger on why, but they come off as distractions rather than adding local color.
And although I understand its significance to the story, I think there was an accidental message (or at least a development that could cause people to read this into the story) that mental problems, unlike "real" diseases, don't require doctors, medicine, and treatment, but just for the mental patient to buck up a little. I don't think this was the intent, but again, a message that could none the less be taken from the book.
Lastly, some of the sexual liasons and situations seem unecessary to me. I just didn't get the character of Scarlet, for instance. Those who have read the book, clue me in, please! Then again, I've noticed myself becoming a bit prudish on this subject. Perhaps I read to many kids' books.
All and all, however, those few issues are, dare I say it? Aberrations. I greatly enjoyed this beautiful and beautifully-written book and hope Przekop has some more novels in her. I'm looking forward to reading them.
(Also the cover is very, very pretty. In the grand scheme of things, I know that there are more important issues. However, a cover is a first impression, and this is a good one.)
 Aberrations rocks September 28, 2008
I'll be recommending this book to a lot of people, even ones I have to buy it for - it's just that good. It's a page-turner, the characters are unfamiliar, and whole. Whole, not in the sense of being whole human beings - because who is, really? But whole, as in drawn whole for us to see all of their sides, in and out. Angel is especially intriguing, and her friends and relatives are all wide-open, raw, for us to see. The way they interact, even embarrassing one another, is great. Penelope Przekop is an author to watch. Since this is her first book, I can't even imagine what she'll come up with next.
Great Read With Many Twists & Turns September 21, 2008
I loved this book. From the first page the author grabs your attention. There are many twists, turns and surprises in the novel. She develops her characters so that you feel you know them and brings out their vulnerabilities in a way in which we can all identify. The author also enters you into the world of narcolepsy and the challenges it poses. A lovely first fiction novel from Penelope Przekop. I am now a big fan and look forward to another novel from Ms. Przekop.
What we don't know won't hurt us, but beware! September 11, 2008
Angel Duet, a young woman with many unanwswered questions about her past sets out on a mission to find out what secrets her father has been keeping from her about her mother's mysterious death during Angel's birth. Aberrations takes place in the 1980's in Louisiana. The only pieces of her mom that she has is the photographs she use to take - most of which were of her favorite - photos of clouds. Two distinct kinds of cloud photographs represent two distinct times in her mom's life. Przekop's book is fascinating because not only are you trying to understand and solve a mystery about Angel's mom and find out what (good) reasons her father would keep such secrets from her, but you are also introduced into the complex and lonely world of narcolepsy which Angel suffers from.
There are several characters that are all introduced throughout the book that in one way or another all share some secret(s) as well about their life or lifestyle. So some underlying questions are raised as you read Przekop's book "should we keep secrets (even tell lies) to spare and protect the feelings of those we love and care for? Of course like the saying goes "what we don't know, won't hurt us" - but is this fair? When you read Aberrations - you'll certainly think twice (three times) about that saying! Sometimes we are much better off hurting and at least knowing the truth rather than searching and searching for endless possibilites.
I loved the book and also loved the beautiful cover!
Aberrations September 2, 2008
Angel Duet has never been very good at relationships. Her mom died when she was a baby and she has never been able to really reach her father, Frank, through the wall of grief that he built up. Friendships were difficult to maintain. When you have Narcolepsy everything requires a huge effort and most days Angel is just not up to it. At twenty-one years old, Angel is attending college and living at home, trying to create a future for herself. Things become more difficult when her dad's girlfriend, Carla, moves in, upsetting the fragile balance that has existed for years between Angel and her dad.
When the novel opens it is spring and Angel is working two jobs. At the first job, a hospital, she is having an affair with a married doctor named Mac. He appeals to her because he understands her condition, accepts her as she is and fits into the fringes of her life. At the other job she meets Kimmy and Tim, who become the first real friends that she has ever had. They expose her to a seedy underground lifestyle that centers mostly on drugs and sex. But they stand by her in a way that she has never experienced before.
Angel's mother was a photographer. She took a whole series of pictures of clouds that resembled things from everyday life, a duck, a horse, a snake. Twenty two photos of clouds have hung on the wall for the last twenty years. When Carla arrives she takes them all down, meaning to re-frame them one by one. The loss of the photos jars Angel and leads her down a path of uncovering old secrets. Eventually she comes to realize how she has let the Narcolepsy control her life and finally learns that truth, in all of its forms, is the key to happiness
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