I Am Zoe Handke

by Eric Larsen

Born in 1941 when her mother was only nineteen, Zoe faces her mother's lifelong anger only after Zoe goes off to college and lives on her own for the first time

Hardcover

First published January 1, 1992

About the author

Born in Northfield, Minnesota, Eric Larsen graduated from CarletonCollege and in 1970 took his doctorate from the University of Iowa. For thirty-five years, he taught English at John Jay College of Criminal Justice, CUNY, retiring in 2006. His first novel, An American Memory (1988), won the Chicago Tribune’s inaugural Heartland Prize. That novel was followed by three others, joined now by The Book of Reading to complete a saga of family and nation. For fifty-four years, Larsen was married to the editor Anne Larsen, and the couple raised two daughters, Flynn and Gavin, both active and highly productive in the arts. Larsen lives in New York City and has also authored the non-fiction works A Nation Gone Blind, The Skull of Yorick, and Homer Whole: A Reading of the Iliad. Learn more at www.ericlarsen.info.

Reviews

[Loel · Rating 3 out of 5]

Exquisite, evocative descriptions, but nothing at all ever happens. I don't see how it's a novel...reads like a memoir of a confused bright girl but everything is interior. It was frustrating because I wanted to love it but it put me straight to sleep.

[Kathleen · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fascinating story of a young girl haunted by her past and her innovative ways of coping. How a daughter copes with a difficult mother, with the help of a loving aunt and grandparents.