Strauss shares the true story of how one high school outing in his father's Oldsmobile resulted in the tragic death of a young girl, and the beginning of a different, darker life for the author. He delves deep into the meaning and consequences of that fateful, or possibly fateless, day.
Jackie says:
When Darin Strauss was 18 years old, he was in an car accident that resulted in the death
of a bicyclist. Darin was the driver, and the victim was one of his high school classmates. This was one month before graduation.
This is a book about survivors' guilt that has haunted him for, literally, half of his life. Though he was cleared of wrong doing, he's always felt guilty, always carried the responsibility for someone else's death with him. Her ghost has haunted him in very real ways--everything he has achieved came with the sidecar thought that 'and she didn't get to do this, have this, see this, be this.'
This is a brutally honest and unflinching book that Strauss originally wrote for himself
('because I deal with things by writing about them'), and then a friend talked him into
submitting a version to NPR's "This American Life". The response to that piece was
overwhelming. I like a line from Kelly Corrigan's review of the book the best: 'This might be the bravest book you will ever read.' I couldn't agree more."
2 comments:
Hi,
This sounds like a good read. Real life stories of a person' struggle and how he/she deals with the problem, inner conflicts, etc. are not topics generally easy to cover. I do some writing myself, and have been working on a semi-autobiographical novel. I wanted to check: is there a way to get my book published at your store, when it's finally done?
Thanks for the info.
Tattered Cover doesn't publish books, we only sell them. If you are considering self-publication, there are many resources on the internet. Or, if you want to go the more traditional route, finish your manuscript, hire an editor and an agent and begin query letters to publishers. Best of luck to you!
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