{"product_id":"9781927380857","title":"Afflictions \u0026 Departures","description":"\u003cp\u003eWinner, City of Victoria Butler Book Prize\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eFinalist, Charles Taylor Prize for Literary Non-Fiction\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eNominated for the BC National Award for Canadian Non-Fiction\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003e\u003ci\u003eAfflictions\u0026amp;Departures\u003c\/i\u003e is a collection of first-person experiential essays. However, this is not the realm of traditional memoir—in addition to incidents and feelings recaptured from memory, Sonik seeks out connections between the microcosm of the daily events of her childhood and adolescence, and the social, historical, and scientific trends of the time.\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003e\u003ci\u003eAfflictions\u0026amp;Departures\u003c\/i\u003e begins by considering the turbulent and changing nature of the world in the late 1950s and early 1960s—the world in which the author was conceived and born. Like many couples of that era, Madeline Sonik’s parents focused on shared social and economic ambitions at the expense of authentic personal feeling. These ambitions would erode and, by the 1970s, completely collapse.\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eThese essays are as incisive as they are moving, and leave the reader with a sense of history as it was lived, not as it is codified in countless textbooks.\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003ePraise for \u003ci\u003eAfflictions\u0026amp;Departures\u003c\/i\u003e:\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003e“Startlingly original, Madeline Sonik’s moving story of her childhood defies all our expectations of memoir. She captures crystalline moments of childhood memory and links them in a daisy-chain with corresponding events of the tumultuous societal change taking place outside her home. It is North America in the 1960s and 70s and her letter-perfect, child’s-eye view of the world brings back that time with such intensity that the reader can almost smell and taste it. Droll, tragic, and absolutely compelling, \u003ci\u003eAfflictions and Departures\u003c\/i\u003e is a visceral portrayal of a family imploding.” (Jury, Charles Taylor Prize for literary non-fiction)\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003e“Her memory is dustless, capacious, uncanny. With a storyteller’s skill and a poet’s depth of vision, she recreates her childhood with one eye on her family and the other on the larger world. Significant cultural markers sit side-by-side with the small, painful intensities of her childhood. This memoir is crammed with pathos, yet is written with a light touch. I adore the narrator who never falls into self-pity or narcissism. The clarity of her vision makes the prose gleam and transforms autobiography into art.” (Lorna Crozier, author of \u003ci\u003eSmall Beneath the Sky\u003c\/i\u003e)\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003e“From the patchwork craziness of a sixties and seventies suburban childhood, Madeline Sonik has fashioned a singular coming-of-age story in which the age itself assumes a starring role. Sharply observed, hilarious, and heartbreaking, \u003ci\u003eAfflictions\u0026amp;Departures\u003c\/i\u003e is a wise, tender, and beautifully written book.” (Susan Olding, author of \u003ci\u003ePathologies: a life in essays\u003c\/i\u003e)\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Anvil Press","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":47154156077296,"sku":"9781927380857","price":15.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0737\/7593\/9824\/files\/9781927380857_p0.jpg?v=1763638093","url":"https:\/\/shop-qa.barnesandnoble.com\/products\/9781927380857","provider":"Barnes \u0026 Noble (DEV)","version":"1.0","type":"link"}