A year in the life of Beth Weeks, a 15/16 year old girl growing into a young woman craving love and relationship, living in an extremely dysfunctional family and in hard circumstances.

Even at their worst, the characters are never painted as evil, rather as flawed, beautiful beings trying to find their way through life's labyrinth. Can’t wait to re-read the others now. Reviewed in the United States on March 4, 2004. You can still see all customer reviews for the product. Magical Realism, Translated/Transported North, Reviewed in the United States on June 19, 2002. This small novel could be a simple coming-of-age story. Anyone who love magical realism, good writing and great characters wrapped up in a mystery will enjoy this novel by Gail Anderson-Dargatz. Cleverly structured, the book was magical, haunting, stunning, mysterious.

A very interesting first novel by Gail Anderson-Dargatz, just out in quality paperback. I only finished this book because I am stubborn. We are so used to reading things that deal with issues of sexual abuse and violence and expect a remedy or some sort of therapeutic message to be sent, however, this is not necessary.

She starts off with a suspenseful beginning by making the reader wonder what it is that the main character hears. (May) FYI: The Cure for Death by Lightning is based on a short story that won the Canadian Broadcasting Company's literary competition in 1993.

Anyone who love magical realism, good writing and great characters wrapped up in a mystery will enjoy this novel by Gail Anderson-Dargatz. One might almost think of this as a Canadian version of a Latin American "magical realism" novel: translate tropic to temperate, jungle to prairie, Spanish heritage to British...The title originates with the scrapbook kept by Beth's mother, a hodgepodge of recipes, Christmas cards, household and family lore, observations, and agonies, a sort of collaged diary of this woman's private life. To calculate the overall star rating and percentage breakdown by star, we don’t use a simple average.

This is not a novel about the solution to the problem of a dysfunctional family.

Simply telling the tale tells a lot. I'm not sure if this is a sort of autobiographical account from the writer or what motivated her to write this story. I think that a lot of other readers missed the point of "The Cure for Death by Lightning." I found parts of her story heartbreaking but she does not, she does not have any other world to compare hers to and besides that many of the other characters are far worse off than Beth. A brilliant first novel from Gail Anderson-Dargatz, and I look forward to reading more of her novels. This page works best with JavaScript. The writing, the imagery, the rhythms, the characters all sucked me into the vortex that was a languid small town in British Columbia in WW II. I am satisfied with this product it was as described.

Or it could be a more complex structure of Canadian farm life, circa WWII, a small town, reservation Indians and common prejudice, nature's random cruelties and the vagaries of family dynamics. Set in the 1940's in a British Columbia rural area, the family ekes out a living on their farm, and Beth has a full share of the workload.

Magical Realism, Translated/Transported North, Reviewed in the United States on June 19, 2002. The Cure for Death by Lightning has so much potential that, for me, is never fulfilled. Reviewed in the United States on March 4, 2004. Disabling it will result in some disabled or missing features. Reviewed in the United States on August 2, 2016, Reviewed in the United States on October 1, 1997. One might almost think of this as a Canadian version of a Latin American "magical realism" novel: translate tropic to temperate, jungle to prairie, Spanish heritage to British...The title originates with the scrapbook kept by Beth's mother, a hodgepodge of recipes, Christmas cards, household and family lore, observations, and agonies, a sort of collaged diary of this woman's private life. Anderson-Dargatz is a gifted writer, whose imagination brings us a world both gritty and mysterious. THE CURE FOR DEATH BY LIGHTNING. The author evokes a time and place and then she weaves in mysterious events and characters. Reviewed in the United States on February 2, 1998. If you've ever spent time in one of Canada's many isolated rural communities, you'll understand what I'm talking about. It's the story of 15-year-old Beth Weeks, daughter of a farming family in western Canada in the early years of WWII. Thank you! When reading "The Cure for Death By Lightning," just stop and absorb the poetry of her words and appreciate the subtle message sent and remember that there is always redemption. Everything does not end with death. It is merely a journey that relays things how they happened. Magical realism has never appealed to me, but when the book appeared on the exchange shelves of my senior centre, I thought I'd give it a try. Top subscription boxes – right to your door, Little House on the Prairie 75th Anniversary Edition, See all details for The Cure for Death by Lightning, © 1996-2020, Amazon.com, Inc. or its affiliates.

Your recently viewed items and featured recommendations, Select the department you want to search in, AWESOME BOOK. And throughout is the legend of Coyote told by the local Indians, the supposed cause of everyone's craziness and evil. The book 'Life after death' is written by Neville Randall. I appreciate the Indian folklore, or should I say First Nations' folklore that she includes in her story.

It is a new brand new spotless book as explained. A very interesting first novel by Gail Anderson-Dargatz, just out in quality paperback. Prime members enjoy FREE Delivery and exclusive access to music, movies, TV shows, original audio series, and Kindle books. After viewing product detail pages, look here to find an easy way to navigate back to pages that interest you. I'm not sure if this is a sort of autobiographical account from the writer or what motivated her to write this story. A brilliant first novel from Gail Anderson-Dargatz, and I look forward to reading more of her novels. Gail Anderson-Dargatz’s masterpiece, The Cure for Death by Lightning, recounts the story of Beth Weeks, a fifteen-year-old living on a farm near a reserve.

We are so used to reading things that deal with issues of sexual abuse and violence and expect a remedy or some sort of therapeutic message to be sent, however, this is not necessary. Along with the commonplace grittiness of their farm life (the endless chores, the birth and death of livestock, the loneliness), there's also the oddities of small-town life, with its eccentrics, tragedies, property feuds, marriages, funerals, and festivals...and given the fact that Beth's dominating, temperamental father seems to be suffering from a combination of depression and psychosis, the Weeks family's popularity is not too high in town just now.

To calculate the overall star rating and percentage breakdown by star, we don’t use a simple average. Disabling it will result in some disabled or missing features.