Giveaway: Center of the Universe
August 15, 2009 by Cherie Burbach
Filed under Contests, Home & Living
Looking for a new book to read? I may be able to help you out with that. I’ve got a copy of The Center of the Universe by Nancy Bachrach to giveaway to one lucky reader. The book is a memoir. Here is an editorial review from Booklist on Amazon:
Bachrach’s account of her childhood with a bipolar mother has a freshness and loopy humor as she describes Lola, her red-haired mom who believed that proper connection with the Fibonacci numerical sequence would lead to God. Equally palpable are Bachrach’s memories of her and her siblings’ confusion during torrential emotional scenes, which were sometimes followed by openly, wildly sexual reconciliations between her parents. Hypersexual Lola’s medical history includes the usual 1950s shock treatments, so that “whole chunks of Lola were scorched earth.”
Returning to Providence when a boating accident kills Dad and renders Mom comatose, the three adult siblings gather at Mort’s surreally funny funeral, and at Lola’s bedside, where the patient’s “serenity makes her unrecognizable, as though someone pressed the mute button on her personality.” What follows Lola’s “rising from metaphorical ashes” as Bachrach cares for her recovering mom are funny-sad revelations of family secrets and identities, well-placed flashbacks, and a scary chronicle of Lola’s subsequent breakdown. All is infused with humanizing pathos, and readers may well tear through this compelling read in a single sitting. –Whitney Scott
To win, leave a comment on this post by Monday, August 24th. I’ll choose a winner at random and announce the guy or gal the following day.
Image: Amazon
This sounds very interesting!
Sounds like an interesting read. I’ll be done with class this week and finally have some time to read!
I hope by reading this book, I can understand more of center of the universe….
wish me luck.
I would love to get this book. I love biographies!
Looks like a great read, please accept my entry!
sounds like a great read, i love memoirs and i’m currently interested in learning about growing up around mental illness.
Ha. This books sounds like me. I would love to read it.
I just got a new bookshelf from Akea and i need to put some nice books there….
I’m on maternity leave with a new baby, so I could use a good book!
Sounds like a great read, my type of book, thanks for the chance
Sounds like an interesting read. I could pass this around to friends when I’m done reading it.
This looks like a fantastic book. I’m sure it’d be one that I’d find hard to put down!
Did you choose a winner yet?
wow…this book sounds really interesting! I’d love to hear back if anyone has read it yet – maybe I’ll win my own copy..
I’ve wanted to read this book for a long time! I’d love to win it!