Synopses & Reviews
"I was born into a mentally ill family. My sister was the officially crazy one, but really we were all nuts." So begins My Sister from the Black Lagoon, Laurie Fox's incandescent novel of growing up absurd. Lorna Person's tale is wrested from the shadows cast by her sister, Lonnie, whose rages command the full attention of her parents. Their San Fernando Valley household is off-key and out of kilter, a place where Lonnie sees evil in the morning toast and runs into the Burbank hills to join the animals that seem more like her kin. Lorna, on the other hand, is an acutely sensitive girl who can't relate to Barbie. "Could Barbie feel sorrow? Could Barbie understand what it's like to be plump, lonely, Jewish?"
My Sister from the Black Lagoon is a wisecracked bell jar, a heartbreaking study of sane and crazy. Laurie Fox's delightful voice is knowing yet wide-eyed, lyrical, and witty.
Review
Publishers Weekly, starred review A triumph of storytelling verve, dark humor, and unabashed candor.
Review
Beth Witrogen McLeod San Francisco Examiner Hypnotic, darkly humorous.
Review
Publishers Weekly, starred review
A triumph of storytelling verve, dark humor, and unabashed candor.
Review
Margaria Fichtner The Miami Herald [A] remarkable, almost aggressively vibrant blend of fiction and memoir.
Review
Jan Winburn The Baltimore Sun Achingly honest and surprisingly funny...heartrending.
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Elisabeth Sherwin Book Page Laurie Fox has managed to turn what could have been a harrowing and depressing autobiographical novel into a moving and funny story.
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Valerie Frankel The New York Times Book Review Fox's prose is beautiful...effective and stirring.
Synopsis
"I was born into a mentally ill family. My sister was the officially crazy one, but really we were all nuts."
So begins My Sister from the Black Lagoon, Laurie Fox's incandescent novel of growing up absurd. Lorna Person's tale is wrested from the shadows cast by her sister, Lonnie, whose rages command the full attention of her parents. Their San Fernando Valley household is off-key and out of kilter, a place where Lonnie sees evil in the morning toast and runs into the Burbank hills to join the animals that seem more like her kin. Lorna, on the other hand, is an acutely sensitive girl who can't relate to Barbie. "Could Barbie feel sorrow? Could Barbie understand what it's like to be plump, lonely, Jewish?"
My Sister from the Black Lagoon is a wisecracked bell jar, a heartbreaking study of sane and crazy. Laurie Fox's delightful voice is knowing yet wide-eyed, lyrical, and witty.
About the Author
Laurie Fox is the author of Sexy Hieroglyphics and My Sister from the Black Lagoon. A former bookseller and creative-writing teacher, she has worked in the publishing industry for seventeen years. Laurie lives with her husband, author-journalist D. Patrick Miller, and her cats, Lewis and Gracie, in Berkeley, California. For more information about the author and her work, visit her website: <>
Table of Contents
ContentsLet Me Entertain You
Part One
Toast
Leon the Leopard
Miss Universe
Normal
Certifiable
Nutcracker
Conflict, My Love
Hollywood Babylon
Glinda: The Early Years
Part Two
You Move Me
We Have Arrived
Confessional
Here Comes the Sun
Creature Feature
A Whole Lotta Love
The End of Nate
Part Three
Out of Los Angeles
Stop the World, I Want to Die Off
I, Tragedienne
Glinda: The Dark Side
Sister Savior
The Dance
The Circle Game