Adrift in the Sound
It’s early 1973. The time of anti-war protesters, free love and dope.
Lizette is homeless and looking for a place to get warm. She winds up at Sandy’s place. Sandy is a snake dancer and srtips for a living. She lets Lizette stay as long as she cleans the house and takes care of her snake.
Next door is the crash pad for Rocket and some of the guys from his softball team, The Franklin Streetdogs. We’ll never know if they could be any good as all the guys do is get high and eat anything and everything.
Lizette spends her time between Sandy’s and Rocket’s. She is crushing on Rocket and he kind of likes her too, feels sorry for her. Her weird chirps and gestures don’t bother him, but the guys want her gone.
So Lizette finds herself out on the street again and this neighborhood is dangerous.
She can’t go home. Because of her mental problems, she’s estranged from her father. He can’t cope with her.
“My dad doesn’t want me,” she whispered. “He told me to get out. No one wants me.”
After she witnesses a murder and is viciously attacked and raped, she decides to head to her friend Marian’s place on Orcas Island. It’s the perfect place to hide and heal.
Marian is happy to see her and helps her get back on her meds and eating properly. She is eating for two now.
Lizette starts painting again and awaits the arrival of her baby.
This is only a small part of the story. There is so much to experience.
I really enjoyed learning about Orcas Island and meeting Poland and Abaya, the Lummi tribal leaders. They encourage Lizette and support her.
I liked Rocket. Not sure why. I have a feeling the author had something to do with that:)
Lizette is a sad character. She can also be sly and manipulative and surprisingly outspoken.
While doing my review research, checking my post-it notes in the book, I went back to the beginning and started reading to refresh my memory. Before I knew it I was at Chapter 12. Well, I had to keep going, and I read the whole book – to the end – again.
I got a lot more out of it the second time, enjoyed it even more, as I wasn’t taking notes for my review. I really got the full effect.
Kate’s writing is superb, her research shows in the details, and her characters, the ones I liked and the ones not so much, kept me captivated.
Adrift in the Sound tells of life in the early 1970′s, a time not often told about. The era of the hippie is ending and the time of the yuppie is coming soon. I was too young to experience it as an adult. I feel I experienced some of it with Lizette and the other characters.
I wasn’t kidding about reading this twice. When I told my sister about it, she laughed. She said I should see my face, I was so animated. That was when I knew my rating was going to be 5 Stars.
Adrift in the Sound is free for everyone from Nov. 20th – 22nd! Go here to get your copy.
Before I even finished writing my review this showed up in my inbox.
| laura thomas, Are you looking for something in our Literature & Fiction department? If so, you might be interested in these items. |
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Amazon, are you reading my mind?
About the author and where to find her.
A novelist, a journalist, an adventurer, Kate Campbell grew up in San Francisco and has lived and worked throughout California and the West. Like every good Westerner, she can swim, ride and shoot. Her novel “Adrift in the Sound,” was a finalist for New York’s 2011 Mercer Street Books Literary Prize. Her new book for writers: “Between the Sheets: An Intimate Exchange on Writing, Editing, and Publishing,” chronicles the final editing of “Adrift in the Sound” through a spirited exchange with her editor and co-author Thomas T. Thomas. An award-winning journalist and photographer, Campbell’s environmental and political writing appears regularly in newspapers and magazines throughout the U.S. She lives in Sacramento and, in addition to writing fiction and poetry, publishes the Word Garden blog at http://www.kate-campbell.blogspot.com .
Purchase Kate’s books by clicking on the images.
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