
- 288 pages
- English
- ePUB (mobile friendly)
- Available on iOS & Android
eBook - ePub
About this book
A "hauntingly original" psychological thriller about innocence, memory, and the effect of a moment of violence (
O: The Oprah Magazine).
In the girls' bathroom, Diana and her best friend, Maureen, are stealing a moment from the routine drudgery of high school when a classmate enters holding a gun. Suddenly, Diana sees her life—past, present, and acutely imagined future—dance before her eyes.
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Through prose infused with the dramatically feminine sensuality of spring, readers will experience sixteen-year-old Diana's uncertain steps into womanhood—her awkward, heated forays into sex; her fresh, fragile construction of an identity—and, in exhilarating detail, her life-not-lived as a doting mother and wife of forty. Together with the sights and sounds of renewal are the tasks of Diana's adulthood: protecting her beloved daughter and holding on to her successful husband.
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This "poetic" novel encompasses both the truth of a teenager's world and the transformations of midlife ( Vanity Fair). Resonant and deeply stirring, The Life Before Her Eyes finds piercing beauty in the midst of a nightmare that echoes like a dirge beneath each new spring, in a story that "takes on deep matters of life and death; conscience and consciousness; family, love and friendship" ( Los Angeles Times).
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"Evokes terror and redemption, shadows and light. Kasischke treads a delicate line with the precision and confidence of a tightrope walker. She reminds us to look hard at life, to notice its beauty and cruelty, even as it flashes before us and disappears." — The New York Times
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"Mesmerizing." — Chicago Tribune
In the girls' bathroom, Diana and her best friend, Maureen, are stealing a moment from the routine drudgery of high school when a classmate enters holding a gun. Suddenly, Diana sees her life—past, present, and acutely imagined future—dance before her eyes.
Â
Through prose infused with the dramatically feminine sensuality of spring, readers will experience sixteen-year-old Diana's uncertain steps into womanhood—her awkward, heated forays into sex; her fresh, fragile construction of an identity—and, in exhilarating detail, her life-not-lived as a doting mother and wife of forty. Together with the sights and sounds of renewal are the tasks of Diana's adulthood: protecting her beloved daughter and holding on to her successful husband.
Â
This "poetic" novel encompasses both the truth of a teenager's world and the transformations of midlife ( Vanity Fair). Resonant and deeply stirring, The Life Before Her Eyes finds piercing beauty in the midst of a nightmare that echoes like a dirge beneath each new spring, in a story that "takes on deep matters of life and death; conscience and consciousness; family, love and friendship" ( Los Angeles Times).
Â
"Evokes terror and redemption, shadows and light. Kasischke treads a delicate line with the precision and confidence of a tightrope walker. She reminds us to look hard at life, to notice its beauty and cruelty, even as it flashes before us and disappears." — The New York Times
Â
"Mesmerizing." — Chicago Tribune
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Please note we cannot support devices running on iOS 13 and Android 7 or earlier. Learn more about using the app.
Yes, you can access The Life Before Her Eyes by Laura Kasischke in PDF and/or ePUB format, as well as other popular books in Literature & Literature General. We have over one million books available in our catalogue for you to explore.
Information
Table of contents
- Title Page
- Contents
- Copyright
- Dedication
- Epigraph
- Prologue
- PART ONE
- Sunlight
- Whispers
- Heartbeat
- Daisies
- Footsteps
- PART TWO
- Thunder
- Peonies and Lilac
- Humming
- Blood
- PART THREE
- Silence
- Skin
- Light and Shadow
- Glass
- Glare
- PART FOUR
- Birds
- Cold
- Dust
- Steam
- PART FIVE
- Music
- Breath
- Rumbling
- April
- Epilogue
- Acknowledgments
- Reading Group Guide
- About the Author
- Connect with HMH