Bastard Out of Carolina - Dorothy Allison [0]
Title Page
Copyright Page
Dedication
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
COMPLETE YOUR ESSENTIAL EDITIONS LIBRARY:
A PLUME BOOK ESSENTIAL EDITIONS BASTARD OUT OF CAROLINA
DOROTHY ALLISON is the author of Trash, a collection of short stories; Cavedweller, a novel; The Women Who Hate Me, Poetry 1980-1990; Skin: Talking About Sex, Class, and Literature; and Two or Three Things I Know for Sure. She has won numerous awards for her work. Dorothy Allison lives in northern California.
Praise for Bastard Out of Carolina and Dorothy Allison
“Evocative, vivid, compelling ... a startling authentic landscape of Southern white-trash poverty, violence, madness and stubborn resiliency ... With Bastard Allison joins the ranks of such enduring Southern writers as Flannery O’Connor Walker Percy, Tennessee Williams, and Faulkner, creating a significant moral vision of the world.”
—New York Quarterly
“Riveting ... Allison manages a rare feat: a child narrator who delivers her raw truth in remarkable, beautiful, original language ... One of those unusual books that show childhood abuse without sentimentality or simplicity.”
—Boston Phoenix
“An exceptional first novel, this stunning, fluid, sad and courageous story would be outstanding even if it were the author’s tenth.”—Booklist
“Allison’s work conjures comparison with Alice Walker.”
—San Francisco Sentinel
“Formidable, compelling ... [Allison] brings to these pages a brilliant clarity and an astonishing grasp of the universality of childhood experience.”
—Virginian-Pilot & Ledger-Star
“An irresistible cast of characters ... Allison renders their very look and touch with absolute precision and discernment.” —San Francisco Review of Books
“If you are not afraid of reading about the truth, if you want to learn how it really is to grow up with family violence and incest, yet remain marvelously whole and human, buy this book.”—Southern Voice
“Moving ... Allison cooks up an extended family of memorable characters ... and moves beyond benign images of Southern eccentrics.”—Newsday
“Vivid, searing, rich ... Allison’s voice speaks with urgency and pungent images; she weaves a spell in a relentless, gripping story ... Bastard is a powerful work, a tale that moves along with the insidious force of a good mystery, seizing and not letting go.”—Bay Area Reporter
“Unforgettable ... a brilliant, soul-wrenching novel that sings with the unbridled fervor of a gospel choir.”
—Gay & Lesbian Times
“Affecting ... a writer of uncommon toughness and originality with a gift for seeing deeply into her characters and giving them an aching believability.”
—The State (South Carolina)
PLUME
Published by Penguin Group
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Penguin Books Ltd., Registered Offices: 80 Strand, London WC2R 0RL, England
Published by Plume, a member of Penguin Group (USA) Inc.
First Plume Printing, March 1993
This edition published September 2005
Copyright © Dorothy Allison, 1992
All rights