Sidonie’s best friend, Patsy, delivers a tirade of blatant racist tropes after hearing about Sidonie and Chris’s relationship, which fractures the women’s friendship. Was her later explanation valid? Was she forgivable in your eyes?
There’s a current debate in literary circles concerning “cultural appropriation” and “whose voice gets to tell stories of race” (as mentioned in the Author’s Note). What are your thoughts on this issue, particularly after reading a book by a white author inclusive of depictions of black life and black characters? Did you feel this author met the standard of authenticity and balance?
One of the book’s sensitivity readers commented, “The book is a sort of Racism 101, an eye-opener for allies.” If a black reader, do you agree? If a white reader, did you find the story educational from that aspect, perhaps even illuminating?
MORE ABOUT LORRAINE’S OTHER BOOKS
Hysterical Love, a novel
Dan McDowell, a thirty-three-year-old portrait photographer wobbling toward an early midlife crisis, is unceremoniously dumped by his fiancée after mentioning a years-earlier “ex-girlfriend overlap.” Bunking next door at best friend Bob’s for far longer than anticipated, Dan finds himself lost in existential confusion. His life is further upended when his father takes ill and Dan reads an old story written by this enigmatic man about a long-lost love who haunts him still. Perplexed and inspired by this revelation—and incapable of fixing his own romantic dilemma— Dan sets off on a wild ride beset with detours, twists, and semi-hilarious peril to find this woman of his father’s dreams, convinced she holds the keys to happiness for them all. A funny, thought-provoking tale of self-discovery and finding the true meaning of love.
2017 New Apple Books Solo Medalist Winner in General Fiction
2017 American Book Fest Best Book Awards,
Finalist in General Fiction
2015 indieB.R.A.G. Medallion Honoree
Kirkus Reviews:
“Wilke is a skilled writer, able to plausibly inhabit Dan’s young male perspective. . . . A well-written, engaging, sometimes-frustrating tale of reaching adulthood a little late.”
Literary Fiction Book Review:
“Devon Wilke manages to convey the male psyche with a good-natured humor that seems eminently believable. Hysterical Love is a deftly told tale.”
Readers’ Favorite Book Reviews:
“I just finished reading Hysterical Love, the newest novel by Lorraine Devon Wilke, and I must say, I simply adored it! Her writing style is witty, pointed and funny, even hilarious at times.”
WE Magazine for Women:
Chosen as one of the “8 Books Worth Reading This Summer, 2015.”
Barb Taub/UK Book Blog:
“I never found a writer who was as good as DH Lawrence, but who could also get into a man’s head and tell that story. Until now. Wilke is a kind of genius. Or a damn good writer doing a better job of getting into the head of the opposite sex than DH Lawrence anyway. She combines humor, terrific writing, and some none-too-gently acquired truths into a different kind of relationship story.”
A Woman’s Wisdom/UK Book Blog:
“This is one of those books which exceeded all my expectations. I was expecting a romance with a couple of twists but what I got was something far deeper and more satisfying. If you want a book with many layers and to be thoroughly entertained by a cracking story then this one is for you.”
Crossroads Reviews:
“So worth the read. If you want a great laugh then pick this one up. The story was great, as were the characters. Unpredictable in so many ways. One to stick with you.”
After the Sucker Punch, a novel
They buried her father at noon, at five she found his journals, and in the time it took to read one and a half pages, her world turned upside down . . . he thought she was a failure, a posthumous indictment that proves an existential knockout.
Tessa Curzio—thirty-six, emerging writer, ex-rocker, lapsed Catholic, defected Scientologist, and fourth child in a family of eight complicated people—attempts to transcend, but his damning words skew everything from her current relationship and the truth of her family, to her overall sense of self. In the tumultuous year that follows, it’s her little-known aunt, a nun and counselor, who lovingly strong-arms Tessa onto a journey of discovery and reinvention in a trip that’s not always pretty—or particularly wise—but leads to unexpected truths.
After the Sucker Punch takes an irreverent look at father-daughter relationships through the unique prism of Tessa’s saga and its exploration of family, faith, cults, creativity, new love and old, and the struggle to define oneself against the inexplicable perceptions of a deceased parent. Told with both sass and sensibility, it’s a story wrapped in contemporary culture with a very classic heart.
2015 Independent Author Network,
Finalist, Book of the Year Award
2014 indieB.R.A.G. Medallion Honoree
2014 IndieAuthorNews Top 50 Indie Books
2015 Rosie Amber’s Beach Reads Blog Tour Top 5 Beach Reads
Publishers Weekly/BookLife:
“A realistic and profound journey of realization and forgiveness . . . a solid novel that admirably explores the fragile, fraught relationship between parent and child.”
Kirkus Reviews:
“Wilke writes with razor-sharp wit and radiant flair, and the prose’s high quality is the novel’s principal strength. She also sensitively portrays how real love and affection can survive and even flourish in an otherwise dysfunctional family.”
Tracy Trivas, author, The Wish Stealers (Simon & Schuster):
“With bare-bone honesty and fiery dialogue, Wilke explores the loaded relationship between parents and their adult-children, examining the brave and lonely journey of self-discovery, reinvention, and healing . . . raw and brave.”
Junior Burke, author, Something Gorgeous
(farfalla press/McMillan & Parrish):
“A keenly executed character study. The novel is tightly structured and holds its complex elements with a sure and skillful grip. The dialogue pops . . . a thoroughly engaging and enjoyable read.”
Mark Barry, Green Wizard Publishing/UK:
“A great, sweeping, beautifully written, page-turning read, gripping from page one. A family saga with ambition and class. Meant to be absorbed over time, savoured by lamplight.”
SELECTED TITLES FROM SHE WRITES PRESS
She Writes Press is an independent publishing company
founded to serve women writers everywhere.
Visit us at www.shewritespress.com.
In a Silent Way by Mary Jo Hetzel. $16.95, 978-1-63152-135-5. When Jeanna Kendall—a young white teacher at a progressive urban school—becomes involved with a community activist group, she finds herself grappling with issues of racism, sexism, and oppression of various shades in both her professional and personal life.
Appetite by Sheila Grinell. $16.95, 978-1-63152-022-8. When twenty-five-year-old Jenn Adler brings home a guru fiancé from Bangalore, her parents must come to grips with the impending marriage—and its effect on their own relationship.
American Family by Catherine Marshall-Smith. $16.95, 978-1631521638. Partners Richard and Michael, recovering alcoholics, struggle to gain custody of Richard’s biological daughter from her grandparents after her mother’s death only to discover they— and she—are fundamentalist Christians.
Again and Again by Ellen Bravo. $16.95, 978-1-63152-939-9. When the man who raped her roommate in college becomes a Senate candidate, women’s rights leader Deborah Borenstein must make a choice—one that could determine control of the Senate, the course of a friendship, and the fate of a marriage.
Shelter Us by Laura Diamond. $16.95, 978-1-63152-970-2. Lawyer-turned-stay-at-home-mom Sarah Shaw is still struggling to find a steady happiness after the death of her infant daughter when she meets a young homeless mother and toddler she can’t get out of her mind—and becomes determined to rescue them.
True St
ories at the Smoky View by Jill McCroskey Coupe. $16.95, 978-1-63152-051-8. The lives of a librarian and a ten-year-old boy are changed forever when they become stranded by a blizzard in a Tennessee motel and join forces in a very personal search for justice.
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