With unerring emotional clarity, Van Arsdale, in a poetic first novel, charts a woman's search for the land of amnesia, "where memory plagues no one," in the aftermath of her abandonment by the most important woman in her life, her lover and best friend. When it becomes clear that Libby has no plans to return home, and she tires of having to "explain again that feeling of having all the air forced from my lungs," the nameless protagonist, a research biologist, decides to walk out of her own life. She stores away in her attic in Durham, N.C., all of the mementos of her years with Libby, packs a couple of bags, cleans out her bank accounts, trades in her Toyota for a 1950 Chevy Bel-Air and drives off. Stopping along the way in a library, she finds in a medical reference the condition she hopes to induce. "And maybe it wouldn't have to be transient," she thinks. Eventually she heads the old Bel-Air north and west, aiming for a nameless island in a lake near the Canadian border. Here, she rents a cottage, renames herself "Virginia," cuts her hair and practices her amnesia exercises-which include learning to write with her left hand and drinking her coffee black. Her quest for oblivion is hampered by memories evoked by grocery stores, canoes and birthdays until, one day, Virginia suddenly realizes that she no longer has to work at it. Practical-minded readers will be troubled at first by such issues as mortgages and bills unpaid, by unforwarded mail and families left behind, but few will long remain immune to this telling of a fantasy entertained at one time or another by anyone who has ever felt the urge to flee in the face of pain.
Copyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc.
--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
Owner Reviews, Ratings, Comments and Criticism
A young marine biologist is rattled by the break up with her lover of 5 years. In a state of confusion and disbelief about how they now feel about each other, she finds herself driving by her former lover's new home, wondering what her new life is like. She finally realizes that this is not going to help her situation, and after reading an article about a woman who disappeared for three weeks only to reappear in Florida, hundreds of miles from her home, she decides to disappear also, to remove every trace of her former life and to discover her true self. This novel traces her path along the roads and highways of eastern North America, starting in North Carolina and settling on a remote island off the coast of Canada. Along the way, she discovers herslef through musings about relationships, her missing-in-action father, animals and nature -- especially about the mysterious catamount, a large mountain cat, which is on the verge of extinction and rekindles feelings about her own life's path. It's a very moving story about self-discovery. Sarah Van Arsdale's style is poetic, very clear and detailed, making it quite enjoyable to read. I really liked the main character and how she handled herself in very realistic terms.
