Just before leaving LA, Tamar gave me one of her favorite books to read, An Invisible Sign of My Own. Now it is one of my favorites. The author, Aimee Bender, mixes metaphor and action, fantasy and activity in a poetic and immediate manner. I felt right away I could slip into the mind of Mona Gray as she slipped in and out of her experiences, as her imagination blossomed and constructed events before they happened.
The story begins with Mona telling how her mother kicked her out of the house when she was nineteen. Not from lack of love but because it was time. Time to find your own place, time to get a job and make your way. A startling juxtaposition of truth and shock. And although certainly not a straight line from here to there, it worked for Mona, leading me through an amazingly well crafted story with sensitive pacing and memorable, rich characters.
The painful transformation of Mona, with her love of mathematics and numbers, with quirks and obsessive behaviors, of her fears and desires is an enchanting, eloquent, often amusing story. an enriching experience to read. And I loved the ending. Perfect.
Posted by leya at January 5, 2005 05:49 PM