The Ruins of California
Author | : Martha Sherrill |
Publisher | : Penguin |
Total Pages | : 385 |
Release | : 2007-01-02 |
ISBN-10 | : 9781101118023 |
ISBN-13 | : 1101118024 |
Rating | : 4/5 (23 Downloads) |
Book excerpt: For the Ruin family in 1970s California, as described by the precocious young Inez, life is complex. Her father, Paul, is self-obsessed, intrusive, and brilliant. He's also twice divorced, leaving Inez to bounce between two worlds and embracing neither-that of Paul's bohemian life in San Francisco and the more sedate world of her mother Connie, a Latin bombshell who plays tennis and attends EST seminars in the suburbs. As Inez progresses through high school we are witness to a remarkable family saga that renders a strange and fascinating slice of America in transition-one like the Ruins of California themselves, at once bold and innocent, creative and chaotic, obsessed and liberating.