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Average customer rating based on 4 comments:

lynemarshall, February 24, 2008 (view all comments by lynemarshall)
The momentum builds with this book and it is an emotionally charged read. The author, Magdalena Ball, presents a compelling narrative of a modern teenager drawn to the darker side of life after the loss of the only stable person in her otherwise chaotic home life. It is an interesting story, well researched and written to allow us an inside look at the reasons young people are drawn to drugs as a quick fix for underlying problems, and the effects this has on their lives. The subject of this book, creative and talented, the daughter of an artist, is subjected to her mother’s demons on a regular basis, and copes until she feels betrayed, and then begins her downward slide into a very different world. She is assisted in her journey by others who have forsaken an ordinary life for one of seemingly endless escapades into volatile situations. This could be a true story and one many people may readily face in an intimate family situation and is a touch poignant at times. But it has a message for us all and an indication of the author’s ability to weave an intriguing story around the fragility of a character unable to communicate her own needs when confronted with life’s pressing issues.

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bobwilliams, September 18, 2007 (view all comments by bobwilliams)
Magdalena Ball is the author of literary criticism and a collection of poetry. This is her first novel, a story of pain, loss, and redemption. The young woman, Mari, suffers the death of her grandfather. In her pain, she turns away from her life of brilliant scholastic promise and becomes involved disastrously with a young musician. Her apparently shallow mother comes at last to her rescue and together they find a new and more mature life. This is a memorable book with many rare qualities of thought and style and will not soon be forgotten.

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maggieball, July 26, 2007 (view all comments by maggieball)
Sleep Before Evening is Magdalena Ball?s debut novel. It is a beautifully crafted piece dealing with rejection and betrayal. Those of us who have felt that someone we loved deeply betrayed us, will form an immediate bond with the main character.

Marianne is a vivacious nineteen year old, full of life and a brilliant scholar. She is at the peak of her powers when life decides it will test her character. Eric, her much loved grandfather and mentor, is suddenly struck down by a stroke. His death begins a series of events that takes Marianne into a world of darkness, filled with drugs and depression.

Hurting to the core about the loss of Eric, and the fact that she was denied the chance to say goodbye, Marianne hates the world. She also starts to hate herself and seeks solace in the arms of Miles. He is a struggling musician who for a time is the maestro who conducts her life.

Lily, Marianne?s mother, also has her own demons eating at her. She is so wrapped up in her struggle to find happiness and fulfillment, that she cannot see what is happening to her daughter. It is a flaw that many parents are guilty of, not through an act of selfishness, but one brought on by their own struggle to survive.

Confused and angry Marianne deteriorates to the stage where fantasy, reality and pain are so intermingled within her, that she loses contact with her real self. She was entering the stage of what the noted British psychiatrist Hall called, drifting back to the time before you are born. It is a stage along the path of mental recovery, where one?s mind is in an infantile state, as it retreats from the hurt it finds itself in. Then when it feels strong enough it comes forward again, out of the darkness and into the light. This usually brings with it a positive change in an individual, making them mentally stronger and enhancing their creativity.

This is a good story that makes the reader feel the highs and lows of Marianne as if they are their own. It reminds me of the style adopted by the Russian writer Dostoyevsky. He had the ability to get the reader to feel exactly what his characters felt; a gift Magdalena ball has too.

Sleep Before Evening is a well written insight into human suffering. The author shows an in-depth knowledge of how to hold readers attention, and make them eager to know more. This is a debut novel that shows the author has many more novels inside her, which will provoke strong emotions in readers of her work.

Review by Warren Thurston
Owner of Pentales
http://www.pentales.com

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Product Details

ISBN:

9781904492962

Author:

Ball, Magdalena

Publisher:

Bewrite Books

Subject:

Literary

Subject:

Contemporary Women

Publication Date:

July 2007

Binding:

Paperback

Language:

English

Pages:

296

Dimensions:

8.00x5.00x.67 in. .71 lbs.