Graywolf Press
October 2012
On Sale: October 2, 2012
205 pages ISBN: 1555976255 EAN: 9781555976255 Kindle: B009A9LKTW Paperback / e-Book Add to Wish List
A haunting, enigmatic novel about a woman who is given a second chanceβand isnβt sure whether she really wants it
Elisa Brown is driving back from her annual, somber visit to her son Silasβs grave when something changes. Actually, everything changes: her body is more voluptuous; sheβs wearing different clothes and driving a new car. When she arrives home, her life is familiarβbut different. There is her house, her husband. But in the world she now inhabits, Silas is no longer dead, and his brother is disturbingly changed. Elisa has a new job, and her marriage seems sturdier, and stranger, than she remembers. She finds herself faking her way through a life she is convinced is not her own. Has she had a psychotic break? Or has she entered a parallel universe? Elisa believed that Silas was doomed from the start, but now that he is alive, what can she do to repair her strained relations with her children? She soon discovers that these questions hinge on being able to see herself as she really isβsomething that might be impossible for Elisa, or for anyone. In Familiar, J. Robert Lennon continues his profound and exhilarating exploration of the surreal undercurrents of contemporary American life.
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