Mary Robison was born in Washington, D.C. She graduated from Johns Hopkins, where she studied with John Barth. She is the recipient of a Guggenheim Fellowship, two Pushcart Prizes, an O. Henry Award, and the Los Angeles Times Book Prize for Fiction. She is the author of three previous novels, Oh! (1981), Subtraction (1991), and Why Did I Ever (2001), and of four story collections, Days (1979), An Amateur's Guide to the Night (1983), Believe Them (1988), and Tell Me (2002). Robison has written for Hollywood and has been a contributor to The New Yorker since 1977. She lives in Gainesville, Florida.
Robison has constructed her third novel, the first in a decade, as a series of brief segments (527 in all), reflecting narrator Money Breton's ADD syndrome. Because she is undermedicated, Breton must struggle to maintain her concentration long enough to keep her Hollywood script-writing position and her sense of humor. By night, Breton is hammering nails or painting every object in her house; by day, she seeks to provide the right bits of advice and the right amount of motherly support to her methadone-addicted daughter and to her son, the victim of an unspeakable crime. With questionable assistance from several well-meaning friends, including a filthy-rich boyfriend with a limited vocabulary, Breton balances her difficulties long enough to see the proverbial thin ray of light at the end of the tunnel. Robison's characters are vivid, colorful, and likable, and their story is absorbing. Her humorous presentation does not cheapen the tragic content of her novel but realistically portrays one method of survival. Highly recommended for all public and academic fiction collections. Rebecca A. Stuhr, Grinnell Coll. Libs., IA Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information.
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