Lithium for Medea

Rating:
Summary: boring, pseudo-poetic, overitten
Review: I was utterly disappointed in the quality of fiction an indie (very interesting and likeable too) publishing house like "Seven Stories Press" backs and publishes. Braverman's novel is a fake; a laughably overwritten composition: just like an dreamy adolescent's diary it's wildly in love with words(four to five adjectives before every single noun), and it teems with metaphors, pseudopoetic images and repetitions. This is supposed to be a memoir of family tensions, love gone sour, addiction and death; nevertheless, it reads like an overlong, overwritten and very clumsy poem on Los Angeles, full of cliches and borrowed phrases. I wonder what made Ricky Moody write the preface: public relations can be real tricky.

Rating:
Summary: A Paean Validating Kate Braverman's "Lithium For Medea"'
Review: I've read this book and have taken its significance personally.
However, the lyricism stands above that of male authors who
originally capitalized on the trend to glorify, explain and
identify with abuse of cocaine.
And it isn't that simple. I commend Kate Braverman for not taking a simplified polemic view of "rehabilitation." Writing something versed in poetry and greek tradition draws out the tragedy much more poignantly than anything else I've ever read.
The language employed in this novel elevates it to art. And I just can't say that about contemporaneous works on the same subject written by male authors.
So Reprint, Reprint, Reprint, and realize that other women of my generation might deign to listen to a genuine, artistic, beautiful rendition of something with which they may identify.
Sincerely,
Lydia Hazen

Rating:
Summary: Impressed, but not overly so.
Review: Maybe I expected it to be better, but I found parts of this book a chore to wade through.

I appreciate that in real life people do go over and over the same scenes in their head, but it felt like Braverman had simply cut and pasted paragraphs from one chapter to another.

I guess I'm not the kind of reader who enjoys rereading sections for their lyricism, so I felt like I was being forced to do so against my will.

Hard to complain because it is so much better than most of the stuff I have read lately. That being said, I'd recommend Mark of an Angel, Virgin Suicides, and Ice Storm prior to this.

Perhaps if you are a drug addict with a cancerous gambler for a Dad, you will find that this is a perfect snapshot of your life and a motivating force. But for someone on the outside looking in, it's simply a very well written book about these people that repeats itself just a couple times more than I would have liked.

Rating:
Summary: Impressed, but not overly so.
Review: Maybe I expected it to be better, but I found parts of this book a chore to wade through.

I appreciate that in real life people do go over and over the same scenes in their head, but it felt like Braverman had simply cut and pasted paragraphs from one chapter to another.

I guess I'm not the kind of reader who enjoys rereading sections for their lyricism, so I felt like I was being forced to do so against my will.

Hard to complain because it is so much better than most of the stuff I have read lately. That being said, I'd recommend Mark of an Angel, Virgin Suicides, and Ice Storm prior to this.

Perhaps if you are a drug addict with a cancerous gambler for a Dad, you will find that this is a perfect snapshot of your life and a motivating force. But for someone on the outside looking in, it's simply a very well written book about these people that repeats itself just a couple times more than I would have liked.

Rating:
Summary: Women, Beautifully-Crafted Prose, and Drug Addiction
Review: This book is tremendous, and I agree with the other review: Get This Book Back Into Print! Braverman began as a poet, and you can see it in her own unique style. After reading her incredible prose, you'll understand why she has been nominated for the Pulitzer Prize in Poetry. The story is about a woman heavily addicted to cocaine, whose dad is heavily into gambling ("the horses") and is also afflicted with cancer. It's about the woman's struggle to get away from both the white powder as well as from the bad men who've helped her get addicted. You will not read better-crafted prose than this novel...