The Life I Really Lived Author:Jessamyn West This compelling novel, written in the form of a confessional memoir by Orpha Chase, a popular author of inspirational family fiction, exposes her real past, a life that involves murder, suicide, illegitimacy, adultery, homosexuality, faith healing, and an intricate deception that leads to a strange trial for manslaughter. Candid, tough, often s... more »hocking, this narrative probes relentlessly beneath the masks that so frequently conceal human motivations & intentions.
Yet it is equally an impassioned reverlation of the joys & hazards of love, physical and spiritual, of the fortitude demanded to confront adversity, of the faith needed to make misfortune endurable, of the bittersweet folly of fantasy and self-delusion, and of the triumphs possible for those who seek and follow their own truths.
Orpha's journey starts early in this centruy in a small town in Kentucky; nature has made it a beautiful land, people have made it "a harsh and bloody ground." Her travels take her to Los Angeles, the continental stoping place, and finally to Maui, one of the jewels of the Hawaiian Islands. Yet, in the end, it is the interior world, so convincingly inthe interior world, so convincingly informed by what people are and not merely what they are like,t hat gives this panoramic portrayal such vast dimension, intensity, and meaning.
The Life I Really Lived carries the unmistakable hallmark of Jessamy West. It is aglow w/ radiant descriptions and startling perceptions of place, character and ideas. It moves w/ ease between the comic and tragic, illumincation not merely their interplay, but even their kinship. It pulses w/ cogent, sometimes explosive, often tender & haunting action. Miss West presents her most fascinating, original, touching, and powerful novel.« less
ISBN: 24537 Pages:385 Rating:
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