A Year and a Day
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Book Overview
Fifteen-year-old Alice dreams of her first kiss, has sleepovers, auditions for Our Town, and tries to pass high school biology. It's 1975, and at first look, her life would seem to be normal and unexceptional. But in the world that Leslie Pietrzyk paints, every moment she chronicles is revealed through the kaleidoscope of loss, stained by the fact that Alice's mother, without warning, note, or apology, deliberately parks her car on the railroad tracks, in the path of an oncoming train.
In the emotional year that follows, Alice and her older brother find themselves in the care of their great aunt, forced to cope and move forward. Lonely and confused, Alice absorbs herself in her mother Annette's familiar rituals, trying to recapture their connection -- only to be stunned by the sound of her mother's voice speaking to her, engaging Alice in "conversations" and offering some insight into the life that she had led, beyond her role as Alice's mother.
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Customer Reviews
Rated 5 starsa touching, tender story
A Year and a Day provides a chronicle of one person's search for answers to the questions that accompany an untimely death. Although the death in the book is a suicide, the same chorus of "why, why, why?" accompanies any unexpected death. The questions in this book are asked by 15-year old Alice as she tries to restore her life after it has been turned topsy-turvy by her mother's suicide.Alice's world--1975 small-town...
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Rated 5 starsQuick, compelling read
I got up early this morning to finish reading this book. It was engrossing, and well-written. Leslie Pietrzyk's writing is smooth and enjoyable, without any annoying snags or plot deviations. As a reader, you have to accept the voice of the dead mother as possible, but because Mama interjects into Alice's thoughts so seamlessly, I didn't question it.Although Alice is dealing with the suicide of her mother and looking for answers,...
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Rated 5 starsCompelling and wonderful!!
I wish I could give this book more than five stars. I loved it!I started reading it and couldn't put it down. After I finished it, I couldn't get the characters out of my mind. I know at a future date, this will be a book I will want to read again. I can't really say what about the book grabbed me so quick and so hard, but it won't let go! I do know that I laughed out loud and cried more than once. Give it a try, I don't think...
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Rated 5 starswonderful read
I really loved "A Year and A Day". It was a wonderfully moving novel that really took me back in time to a kinder world. Who wouldn't have wanted to grow up in a small mid-western town? I found the charecters to be interesting and well developed. I enjoyed the rich details of the life Alice and her family lead - both happy and sad. I was glad that Mama didn't tell her everything she wanted to know. I wished that the book...
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Rated 5 starsIntensely Moving
Death is inevitable. It will come whether people want it to or not. What happens, though, when it's your own mother and not only did she want it to happen but she parked her car on a set of railroad tracks to ensure it? Without a word. Without any clear indication that she was even contemplating such an action. She always seemed so happy...didn't she? Loved to cook, made plans for the summer, played games and dressed up. Why?...
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