Indies Introduce

Non-Fiction

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  The Glass Eye: A Memoir, Jeannie Vanasco
  Tin House, 97819410407750, October 3, 2017 (Non-Fiction)
  

  “An absolutely beautiful exploration of family, grief, memory, and madness, The Glass Eye is outstanding. Jeannie Vanasco promised her father before his death that she would write a book for him, never knowing the psychological and mental toll the process would ultimately take on her. Vanasco explores her family’s history: the entirely separate family her father had before she was born, the late-in-life marriage that led to Jeannie’s birth, and her own destructive behavior as she falls in and out of a mental illness, which informs the truly fascinating structure of the book. The layers found in this memoir are as plentiful as the layers found in the human eye; ultimately, it is as deeply layered as the human experience itself.”

  Jamie Thomas, Women & Children First (Chicago, IL)
  
  

  Jeannie was named after her father's dead daughter, Jeanne, from a previous marriage and The Glass Eye is the story of how Jeannie, in turn, copes with the grief of her own father’s death. Vanasco has this unique and brilliant way of structuring her narrative that leaves the reader bewildered and enlightened at the same time. She talks about the frustration of writing this book for her father, her hero, as she copes with her own mental breakdowns. I am not one for memoirs, but this is a rare gem that highlights something so sacred as a daughter’s relationship to her father.

  Jason Kennedy, Boswell Book Company (Milwaukee, WI)