My Sister from the Black Lagoon: A Novel of My Life

"I was born into a mentally ill family. My sister was the officially crazy one, but really we were all nuts." So begins My Sister from the Black Lagoon, Laurie Fox's incandescent novel of growing up absurd. Lorna Person's tale is wrested from the shadows cast by her sister, Lonnie, whose rages command the full attention of her parents. Their San Fernando Valley household is off-key and out of kilter, a place where Lonnie sees evil in the morning toast and runs into the Burbank hills to join the animals that seem more like her kin. Lorna, on the other hand, is an acutely sensitive girl who can't relate to Barbie. "Could Barbie feel sorrow? Could Barbie understand what it's like to be plump, lonely, Jewish?" My Sister from the Black Lagoon is a wisecracked bell jar, a heartbreaking study of sane and crazy. Laurie Fox's delightful voice is knowing yet wide-eyed, lyrical, and witty.

Author: Laurie Fox
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Published: 09/13/1999
Pages: 336
Binding Type: Paperback
Weight: 0.67lbs
Size: 8.00h x 5.00w x 0.85d
ISBN: 9780684855387

Accelerated Reader:
Reading Level: 6
Point Value: 15
Interest Level: Upper Grade
Quiz #/Name: 68833 / My Sister from the Black Lagoon: A Novel of My Life


Review Citation(s):
New York Times 09/05/1999 pg. 24

About the Author
Laurie Fox is the author of the autobiographical novel, My Sister from the Black Lagoon, The Lost Girls, and the interactive poetry book, Sexy Hieroglyphics. She has also published two chapbooks, Sweeping Beauty and I Love Walt, and her poetry has been included in several literary journals. A graduate of the University of California Santa Cruz, Laurie has written and performed in dozens of plays and performance artworks. A former bookseller of both new and antiquarian books, Laurie was also a long-time creative writing teacher and works in publishing. A native of Los Angeles, Laurie resides in Berkeley, CA, where she lived in author Philip K. Dick's teenage home for seventeen years and still dreams of electric sheep!