Product Description

Twenty-one-year-old narcoleptic Angel Duet knows her father harbors secrets. He loves and protects her, but his suspicious refusal to discuss her mother s death drives Angel to worship an image created from the little history she does have: her father's sketchy stories and her mother's treasured photography, studies of clouds that have hung in the their foyer for more than twenty years.

When her father's girlfriend moves in, the photographs come down, and Angel's search for truth becomes an obsession. As she struggles to uncover the past and gain control over the narcolepsy that often fogs her world, Angel descends into a dizzying realm of drugs, adultery, and confused desire that further obscures reality.

As Angel begins to expose a history she could never have imagined, she discovers her entire life has been anchored around lies. Accepting the truth, once found, is the key to understanding herself, her family, and her life. To truly awaken, Angel must realize that sometimes the gifts we receive are not what we want--and only in time do we see their worth.

At first glance, Aberrations is the story of a young woman who learns to live with her narcolepsy, and who struggles immensely to understand how her mom died when she was born and to discover who her mother really was. But the debut novel of Penelope Przekop moves insightfully into a whole other dimension, showing the reader how each of us lives a life of aberration, that we each have some kind of stigma or conflict or handicap to overcome. We also discover that having the strength to first seek out the truth and then to live with it can be quite challenging.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #150932 in Books
• Published on: 2008-07-01
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 336 pages

Review
Aberrations alternates between stormy, stark, and poignant--contemporary Southern fiction at its finest. From the first page, Penelope Przekop plunges readers soul-deep, gifting them with the intriguingly flawed character of Angel Duet. Aberrations is an authentically told story of rebirth through the discovery of truth, and of the acceptance of peace and love in the aftermath of life's cruelest betrayals. --Kim Lenox, author of Night Falls Darkly

Aberrations is one of the best novels I've read in a long time. Przekop writes as if she's been a best-selling author for years. She's created a stunning page-turner packed with emotion and beautiful storytelling. --Kelly Jameson, author of the suspense-thriller Dead On

Penelope Przekop is a talented emerging novelist to watch! --Marcia Layton Turner, award-winning journalist and author

About the Author
Aberrations is Louisiana native Penelope Przekop’s first novel. Her nonfiction book Six Sigma for Business Excellence was published in 2005. A director for Johnson & Johnson, Przekop now resides near Philadelphia.

Customer Reviews

A Beautiful Journey
Angel Duet (a delicious name, I think) is 21 years-old, motherless, in a bad relationship, a narcoleptic, and going nowhere fast. The phrase "sleepwalking through life," corny though it may seem, is apt.

However, as the novel begins, certain changes are beginning to affect Angel. A new woman enters her father's life, and disrupts their shrine (both physical and mental) to Angel's mother, Betty Lou. When Angel takes a job at her college in the agricultural department, she both finds herself spending less time with her married lover, and accidentally letting two friends into her life.

And from there, a series of awakenings occur for Angel, again both physical and mental, as she comes into her own, and takes control of her own life.

The language in this novel is perhaps its most shining feature. Przekop really has a gift for flow and description. The story itself was compelling, don't get me wrong, but with the lovely language used here, it could be significantly weaker and still succeed.

Angel herself is a fascinating, if not always likable character. I think this is a definite strength. After all, if I can spend that much time in a character's head, not always like her, and yet still feel the need to keep reading, that really speaks to the strength of the writing. I thought the narcolepsy was a nice touch. While central to the character of Angel, it also makes a great metaphor for her personal state, as well as a great comparison point for all the aberrations of those that surround her.

Now, I'm going to get the bad out of the way real quick. Some like the use of dialect, but I don't. I found all the cain't and thangs distracting, even though I know people who actually speak like this. I can't quite put my finger on why, but they come off as distractions rather than adding local color.

And although I understand its significance to the story, I think there was an accidental message (or at least a development that could cause people to read this into the story) that mental problems, unlike "real" diseases, don't require doctors, medicine, and treatment, but just for the mental patient to buck up a little. I don't think this was the intent, but again, a message that could none the less be taken from the book.

Lastly, some of the sexual liasons and situations seem unecessary to me. I just didn't get the character of Scarlet, for instance. Those who have read the book, clue me in, please! Then again, I've noticed myself becoming a bit prudish on this subject. Perhaps I read to many kids' books.

All and all, however, those few issues are, dare I say it? Aberrations. I greatly enjoyed this beautiful and beautifully-written book and hope Przekop has some more novels in her. I'm looking forward to reading them.

(Also the cover is very, very pretty. In the grand scheme of things, I know that there are more important issues. However, a cover is a first impression, and this is a good one.)

Aberrations rocks
I'll be recommending this book to a lot of people, even ones I have to buy it for - it's just that good. It's a page-turner, the characters are unfamiliar, and whole. Whole, not in the sense of being whole human beings - because who is, really? But whole, as in drawn whole for us to see all of their sides, in and out. Angel is especially intriguing, and her friends and relatives are all wide-open, raw, for us to see. The way they interact, even embarrassing one another, is great. Penelope Przekop is an author to watch. Since this is her first book, I can't even imagine what she'll come up with next.

Great Read With Many Twists & Turns
I loved this book. From the first page the author grabs your attention. There are many twists, turns and surprises in the novel. She develops her characters so that you feel you know them and brings out their vulnerabilities in a way in which we can all identify. The author also enters you into the world of narcolepsy and the challenges it poses. A lovely first fiction novel from Penelope Przekop. I am now a big fan and look forward to another novel from Ms. Przekop.