Description
In a thought-provoking memoir, a woman meditates on the allure of suicide for three generations of women in one Puerto Rican family, describing the lives of her grandmother and mother, her own suicide attempt, and the secrets that linked the three women. 15,000 first printing.
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A Message from God in the Atomic Age is a razor-sharp memoir about the allure of suicide for three generations of women in one Puerto Rican family.March 1, 1954: Lolita Lebron, a young Puerto Rican nationalist, opens fire on the United States House of Representatives, proclaiming, "I did not come here to kill, I came here to die." She is sentenced to life in prison.March 1, 1977: After attending her son's wedding in Puerto Rico on February 27th, Gladys Mendez (Lebron's daughter) leaps from a speeding car driven by her husband, despite her eight-year-old daughter's desperate attempts to restrain her. She dies two days later, without ever regaining consciousness.February 1, 1988: Recently arrived from Puerto Rico to attend Syracuse University, Irene Vilar (granddaughter of Lebron and daughter of Mendez) is committed to Hutchings Psychiatric Hospital following a suicide attempt.Alternating between Vilar's notes from the psychiatric ward and her recounting of her family history, A Message from God in the Atomic Age is an urgent, richly evocative meditation on family. Vilar unravels the fantastical myths and delves into the frightening secrets that have haunted a grandmother, mother, and daughter.
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