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Title details for Maybe a Miracle by Brian Strause - Available

Maybe a Miracle

A Novel

by Brian Strause
Jesse Berns
Audiobook
1 of 1 copy available
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1 of 1 copy available
In this disarming debut, Brian Strause has written a vastly entertaining novel about an American family transfixed by a series of mysterious events. From a comfortable suburb of Columbus, Ohio, emerges a story of rebellion, faith and hope, bridging the cultural gap between those who believe in miracles and those who wish they could.Monroe Anderson–as quiet on the outside as he is sardonic and alive on the inside–has spent most of his eighteen years trying to fly beneath the radar. If he can remain invisible, he believes, his sadistic older brother, a rising golf star, might not torment him, his workaholic father, a renowned litigator, might not notice him long enough to be disappointed, and his mother might not have to struggle so hard to find a hopeful word. The only people who glimpse the real Monroe are his girlfriend, Emily, and his eleven-year-old sister, Annika. On the night of his senior prom, Monroe finds Annika floating facedown in the family pool. He dives in and rescues her, but not quickly enough to prevent her from slipping into a coma. As the family copes with this crisis, Monroe’s mother turns to religion, his father turns to liquor, and Monroe himself must decide what’s worth believing in, what’s worth fighting for, and, finally, who he wants to be.By turns humorous and heartbreaking, personal and sweeping, familiar and extraordinary, Brian Strause’s mesmerizing novel takes readers on an unforgettable emotional journey into America’s heartland.

  • Creators

  • Publisher

  • Release date

    October 25, 2005

  • Formats

    • OverDrive Listen audiobook

      • ISBN: 9781415953495
      • File size: 365909 KB
      • Duration: 12:42:18

  • Languages

    • English

  • Reviews

    • AudioFile Magazine
      Jesse Berns reads this first-rate and funny novel with the voice of an unsophisticated teenager who possesses the mind of a learned philosopher. On the way to his senior prom, Monroe Anderson discovers his 11-year-old sister floating face down in the family swimming pool. His fully clothed dive to rescue her may be too late. While the family awaits the medical outcome--Mother holding prayer meetings, Father drinking more and more alcohol, and the public looking upon the comatose teenager as a messenger from God--Berns relays Monroe's sardonic and clever descriptions of life as he sees it in the very voice that Monroe himself probably owns. J.P. (c) AudioFile 2006, Portland, Maine
    • Publisher's Weekly

      August 1, 2005
      Strause juxtaposes the caustic and the poignant in his first novel, a pitch-perfect teenage take on human failings and superhuman spectacle in central Ohio. Monroe Anderson, stealing away to smoke pot before his senior prom, discovers his vivacious, sensitive 11-year-old sister, Annika, face down in their pool. He saves her life, but she remains in a coma. A crowd of well-wishers pray beneath Annika's hospital window, and it's not too long before the miracles begin: rose petals rain from the sky; Annika's hands bleed like stigmata. Soon Annika is inspiring letters, pleas and pilgrimages from the nation's sick and grieving, whom Monroe alternately pities and scorns, as he does the family priest who promotes Annika as a latter-day Jesus. The media fuels the frenzy, and Monroe's mother dolls Annika up for her visitors with feverish optimism. Monroe's workaholic father and loutish older brother also reveal their fragilities in the crucible of Annika's prolonged coma, an estranging rather than unifying force. The metaphysical runs up against the mundane with darkly comic ambiguity. "If Annika had the power to heal, wouldn't she heal herself first... and go into the kitchen and make everyone pancakes?" Monroe thinks. Monroe's barbed detachment and biting sarcasm, tempered by the awe that steals over him at unguarded moments, hold the reader even when the plot crawls. 10-city author tour
      .

    • AudioFile Magazine
      Michael Louis Wells hits the mark with his portrayal of the sardonic narrator, Monroe Anderson, in this moving story of tragedy and faith. At the age of 18, Monroe rescues his younger sister, Annika, from drowning in a swimming pool. However, Annika falls into a coma and develops the symptoms of the stigmata. Monroe tells the story of his family's encounter with the miracle. Wells narrates with a mix of dry humor and tenderness as Monroe grapples with the healing of flawed relationships and the meaning of miracles. Wells is also compelling as Monroe's mother, who never loses faith, and his father, who regrets his inattentiveness to his family. K.M.D. (c) AudioFile 2006, Portland, Maine

Formats

  • OverDrive Listen audiobook

subjects

Languages

  • English

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