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Deranged
Deranged is a work of lamentation and praise, featuring three stories and three women who know that the world has been torn asunder and needs to be restored. Anna, Sophie, and Louise live at the margins of the cultures into which they were born. Each woman wrestles with forces both personal and ancestral; they refuse to forget the tides of history, their dead, the land, and the animals they live among. In this work, grief arrives as a healer, a spirit, and a way for the true human being.
Deranged was a finalist for the 2016 Indie Book Award for short fiction.
Deranged was a finalist for the 2016 Indie Book Award for short fiction.
158 pages, Paperback
First published May 1, 2015
12 people want to read
About the author
Nora L. Jamieson
1 book2 followersNora L. Jamieson lives in northwestern Connecticut where she writes, counsels women, and unsuccessfully tracks coyote. She lives with her spouse, Allan G. Johnson, their soulful dog, Roxie, and the sorrowful and joyful memory of four beloved goats and three dogs.
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
October 18, 2015
A perfect little book about three imperfect women and their life stories, Deranged is a literary gift from a talented author Nora Jamieson to us readers and more so to us women. Each one of us women comes to a point in life when something happens that triggers a transformation, spiritual, mental, physical. Whichever it is and whatever is the reason for it, it does seem like a natural process that we women go through when it is our time to reconnect with the Universe and claim our presence, our contribution and - in the end - our nothingness. The infinity of it all is, in my opinion, what unites all three stories in Nora's book. The sadness and the determination, the strong spirit of womanhood, and the need to complete the journey before starting a new one. Ashes to ashes, so it is. But Deranged is all about life, learning from the past, carrying something valuable into the future, celebrating the moment. Deranged is also about strength of character. None of the heroines would be where we found them when we read the book if not for their ancestral inherited and practiced often manifestation of character, the vein of steel that we women must have to endure what we have to in the world before us and in the world after us. Ultimately, Deranged is about survival and the cost women pay for it.
Nora Jamieson praises strong women. She also leads her readers towards self-discovery. Her heroines share intimate thoughts and feelings, and in that are tangible, real - and relatable. Also much of the writing is so good and quotable, you almost feel like it's meant to teach, meant to guide. "...the past lives in the tissues and empty spaces, in the longing and despair, in the stories told and not told, in the shape of a nose or the calling of a soul." What would you do in their place? Are you going through the same right now? What did you find out about yourself? What does it mean to you? All these questions and more were popping in my head as I kept on reading. Albeit with difficulty and slowly, because I often had to pause and reflect on what I'd just read. And because so much in what I was reading was describing my own inner state at the moment. I felt like I was looking in the mirror and seeing generations of women before me and after me. It is a surreal, totally out of this world experience - more so because the author connects everything into a living breathing organism, the Earth that sustains all forms of life - human, animal... The Earth speaks to us and we all need to listen.
Nora Jamieson praises strong women. She also leads her readers towards self-discovery. Her heroines share intimate thoughts and feelings, and in that are tangible, real - and relatable. Also much of the writing is so good and quotable, you almost feel like it's meant to teach, meant to guide. "...the past lives in the tissues and empty spaces, in the longing and despair, in the stories told and not told, in the shape of a nose or the calling of a soul." What would you do in their place? Are you going through the same right now? What did you find out about yourself? What does it mean to you? All these questions and more were popping in my head as I kept on reading. Albeit with difficulty and slowly, because I often had to pause and reflect on what I'd just read. And because so much in what I was reading was describing my own inner state at the moment. I felt like I was looking in the mirror and seeing generations of women before me and after me. It is a surreal, totally out of this world experience - more so because the author connects everything into a living breathing organism, the Earth that sustains all forms of life - human, animal... The Earth speaks to us and we all need to listen.
August 16, 2015
When I was first asked to read Deranged, by Nora L. Jamieson, I was drawn by the fact that the promo for it said it was a book with three stories about three woman. "Each woman wrestles with forces, both personal and ancestral..." the letter read. I was hooked.
Nora Jamieson takes the reader on a journey where paths cross, lives change, time merges and magic abounds. Her characters - Anna, Sophie and Louise - are alive and vibrant. I know these women!
I connected immediately with the use of "deranged" within the stories. Not sure if this is a New England term or not (Nora lives in Connecticut; I live in Massachusetts.) but I have heard the word used many times over the years in the same context as her stories.
Nora's descriptions of the natural world are alive with color, motion, sound, smell and even the bitter/sweet taste of life. The reader can get lost in the woods along with the characters, yet feel that they know the way home. There is such beauty in her narration! I found myself rereading passages just to hear the words dance from my tongue.
I highly recommend Deranged to all, but especially for those who connect to Spirit, Nature and the eternal dance of Life and Death. This will be a book I return to through the years, knowing that another bit of truth will be waiting for me in between the lines.
Nora Jamieson takes the reader on a journey where paths cross, lives change, time merges and magic abounds. Her characters - Anna, Sophie and Louise - are alive and vibrant. I know these women!
I connected immediately with the use of "deranged" within the stories. Not sure if this is a New England term or not (Nora lives in Connecticut; I live in Massachusetts.) but I have heard the word used many times over the years in the same context as her stories.
Nora's descriptions of the natural world are alive with color, motion, sound, smell and even the bitter/sweet taste of life. The reader can get lost in the woods along with the characters, yet feel that they know the way home. There is such beauty in her narration! I found myself rereading passages just to hear the words dance from my tongue.
I highly recommend Deranged to all, but especially for those who connect to Spirit, Nature and the eternal dance of Life and Death. This will be a book I return to through the years, knowing that another bit of truth will be waiting for me in between the lines.
June 2, 2015
One of the best short story collections I've read in some time. Each of the stories can stand on its own two (or four-legged) feet, yet tie together with nuanced ease. The women are diverse in age and backgrounds, yet all come into their own, with struggle, courage and remembering who they are. I hope this author has more on the way.
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews