"Emotionally powerful but never maudlin."―Library Journal
Based on actual events, this shattering novel about wife and child abuse is a work of art that haunts the reader's memory. Merrill Joan Gerber reveals the love affair of Ginny and her sensitive but horribly destructive lover, Michael. The pair adopts a child that Michael both loves and abuses. As Ginny struggles to rid herself of him and save her child, Michael becomes the incarnation of depravity."synopsis" may belong to another edition of this title.
A mock coronation opens this brilliant novel about the harrowing but erotically charged 15-year marriage of fluttery Ginny and seductive, psychotic Michael Fisher, who dubs Ginny "Queen of the World" with a broken starfish, then drowns her dog on a rowboat trip. Lusting for control, Michael abuses Ginny and their adopted baby while claiming to love them, and squanders the family goods on get-rich schemes. The novel, set in California, exquisitely delineates the pair's mutual dependency: Ginny, with a malformed spine, insecure and fixated on a man who outrages the staid respectability of her Jewish parents; Michael, with his boiling sexuality and criminal behavior, gradually subsumed by madness and self-pity. Ginny's efforts to disentangle herself bring her to offbeat therapist Annie, then a job-training program and a shelter for battered women. Images of water--fishing, floating and drowning--converge in the couple's turbulent waterbed, which Michael finally slashes and nails to the bedroom wall. This newest novel by seasoned fiction writer Gerber ( Honeymoon ) won Pushcart's eighth annual Editors' Book Award.
Copyright 1989 Reed Business Information, Inc.
Cut off from her family and painfully insecure because of a curved spine, Ginny needs Michael's unexpected love. At first this love is tender, but it becomes more and more tyrannical. Michael was himself a victim of child abuse, and now his impotent rage masquerades as virility. Eventually his pathological behavior drives his wife and adopted child to a shelter for battered women. Gerber here counters Michael's growing depravity with Ginny's increasing strength and self-confidence. Though she displays the horrors of family violence with brutal frankness, she also provides many interior views that allow us to understand Michael's paranoia. Her story is emotionally powerful but never maudlin.
- Albert E. Wilhelm, Tennessee Technological Univ., Cookeville
Copyright 1990 Reed Business Information, Inc.
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Seller: Dave's Books, Brooklyn, NY, U.S.A.
Hardcover. Condition: Very Good. Dust Jacket Condition: Very Good. 1st Edition. 1989 hardcover no printing listed with the business card and a signed thank you note (first name only) from editor Bill Henderson, to Lynne Sharon Schwartz, who provided a blurb, stapled to a photocopy of the Publishers Weekly review. Light soil/tanning and a tiny tear on white dj, slight bump to one corner, sunning on cover, light soil/foxing on edge, else text clean, binding tight . Seller Inventory # ABE-1517424483241
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Seller: Books From California, Simi Valley, CA, U.S.A.
hardcover. Condition: Very Good. Signed. Signed and personally inscribed by the author. Shows minor wear. Seller Inventory # mon0003354734
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Seller: Wonder Book, Frederick, MD, U.S.A.
Condition: Very Good. Very Good condition. Very Good dust jacket. A copy that may have a few cosmetic defects. May also contain light spine creasing or a few markings such as an owner's name, short gifter's inscription or light stamp. Bundled media such as CDs, DVDs, floppy disks or access codes may not be included. Seller Inventory # C10L-00315
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Seller: ThriftBooks-Atlanta, AUSTELL, GA, U.S.A.
Hardcover. Condition: Good. No Jacket. Pages can have notes/highlighting. Spine may show signs of wear. ~ ThriftBooks: Read More, Spend Less 1.35. Seller Inventory # G091636660XI3N00
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Seller: Black Cat Hill Books, Oregon City, OR, U.S.A.
Hardcover. Near Fine in Near Fine DJ: Both book and DJ show only minute indications of use. The Book shows a small, faint smudge at the lower fore-edge; and an even fainter smudge at the top edge of the text block; just a hint of shelving wear to the bottom edges of the boards; else flawless; the binding is square and secure; the text is clean. Free of creased or dog-eared pages in the text. Free of any underlining, hi-lighting or marginalia or marks in the text. Free of ownership names, dates, addresses, notations, inscriptions, stamps, or labels. A very nearly-new copy, structurally sound and tightly bound, showing the mildest wear and a couple of unobtrusive cosmetic flaws. Very close to 'As New'. The DJ shows only mild rubbing to the panels; the price is unclipped; mylar-protected. Very close to 'As New'. NOT a Remainder, Book-Club, or Ex-Library. 8vo. (9.25 x 6.35 x 1.25 inches). 276 pages. Language: English. Weight: 1 pound, 5.1 ounces. First Edition (1989), unstated. Probable later printing, as there is no overt indication to the contrary. Hardback with DJ. Winner of the Eighth Annual Editors' Book Award. First Edition (1989), unstated. Probable later printing, as there is no overt indication to the contrary. Seller Inventory # 53996
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Seller: Arundel Books, Seattle, WA, U.S.A.
Hardcover. Condition: Near Fine. Dust Jacket Condition: Near Fine. First Edition. 8vo - over 7¾" - 9¾" tall. Slight rubbing to jacket (chiefly at edges); previous owner's ink inscription on front free endpaper; else a near fine copy internally. [10], 276 pages. Novel concerning a destructive relationship between a wife and a child-abusing lover; 'Winner of the eighth annual Editors' Book Award' (title page verso; nominated by Cynthia Ozick). Boldly signed in black marker on front free endpaper: 'For Connie -- All best -- Merrill Joan Gerber'.b/w Decorative Title Page / Headpieces. Seller Inventory # L075417
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Seller: Bungalow Books, ABAA, Pueblo, CO, U.S.A.
Hardcover. Condition: Very Good. Dust Jacket Condition: Very Good. Signed by Gerber on the title page. A novel about domestic abuse based on actual events. A bump to the bottom edge of the front board. The jacket has slight dust soiling, primarily to the rear panel. Winner of Pushcart's Eight Annual Editors' Book Award, nominated by Cynthia Ozick. ; 276 pages; Signed by Author. Seller Inventory # 10562
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Seller: Ocean Tango Books, Palm Springs, CA, U.S.A.
Hardcover. Condition: Very Good. Dust Jacket Condition: Very Good. 1st Edition. First edition Very good condition hard cover nice dust jacket , price clipped gently read clean pages nick rear corner, with tiny oil spot at nick. Seller Inventory # 6528
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