Wonders of the West: A Novel...Author: Kate and similar items

Format: Hardcover; ISBN: 0449906566; Publisher: Fawcett Columbine; Release Date: 1993; List Price: $20.00; Length: 280 pages; Edition: 1. Condition: Very Good. Dust jacket and cover are both still in overall great shape, and binding is strong. Some pages have discoloration along right edge but pages are otherwise unmarked and text is not affected. Overall a nice looking book. Same cover design as that shown here. Synopsis: In Wonders of the West, Kate Braverman surpasses all previous expectations with a novel about internal exile and the dark side of the American dream. It is the early 1960s, and the world is on the verge of monumental change. Jordan Lerner is a teenager adrift in a land of brutally unconscious adults, struggling for breath in a place that is slowly losing air. Jordan's mother has dared to leave her husband and tradition for the idea of a second chance in California. She has risked crossing the country in a broken-down car, pawning jewelry like parts of herself to raise money for the road. Jordan half expects that she will be next. State by state, mother and daughter find themselves sleeping on the ground, impoverished, engaged in a journey that is more than metaphoric, that is leaving a stain on their souls. Through the arid, blistering heat and the cold, blue dark of the night they are initiated into an America that has nothing to do with postcards. It is a nation of hallucinatory, frightening highway motels and vegetable stands, of deserts and lies and the growing realization that they have left nothing to arrive at something less than that. What they discover is a tawdry Dust Bowl outpost, a region of poverty on the Pacific where families disintegrate beneath the sullen palms and sunsets sordid as a garish bruise. It is here that Jordan Lerner struggles to invent herself and finds the courage to recognize and seize her destiny. Priority Mail delivery for this item costs $7.00 at the request of a buyer. Otherwise, the shipping rate given here applies to orders shipped via Media Mail within the U.S. only. Orders consisting of multiple purchases packaged together ship by any of these delivery methods at a discounted rate, usually for only $1.00 per additional item plus the shipping fee for the first item (determined to be the one with the highest delivery charge). International buyers: please contact us with your destination country for applicable base shipping rates. Multiple purchases that are packaged together save shipping costs for you, too! Payment is expected within two weeks of placing your order for the first item within a shipment. Paypal is preferred, but money orders and checks (either personal or cashier's) are also accepted. Orders typically ship within 48 hours of PROCESSED payment, excluding weekends and holidays. Inquiries from all shoppers are responded to promptly and courteously. Buyers are encouraged to ask questions prior to placing orders, as all sales are final unless the product you receive differs significantly from that which was advertised here in terms of either the product itself or its promised condition. In other words, "buyer's remorse" does not qualify for a refund. Exceptions are made only in the event that a buyer is willing to return at his or her own expense an unopened, BRAND NEW item for a refund of the original purchase price only. No original shipping costs will be refunded, unless we are at fault for sending you the wrong item or misrepresenting the product and/or its condition. This hasn't happened yet, but if it does: you are guaranteed a refund of the purchase price, the original shipping fee, PLUS the cost to ship the item back to us. Thank you for looking!