Falling Under - E-book - ePub

REVIEWSFrom NYT Bestselling author Caroline Leavitt, for Dame Magazine"Fierce, erotic and absolutely fearless, this riveting debut tunnels into the psyche of a young artist who is as self-destructive as she is talented. To transform her career and have any sort of shot at happiness, she must grapple with thorny secrets from her past and open herself up to the terror of love. Shocking and moving, Falling Under is as edgy as a razor blade and unlike anything you've ever read before."From Kim Alexander for XM Radio Fiction Nation"Here's a debut novel that delivers, with a narrator who's afraid of just about everything except revealing herself on paper - there's a real element of 'I shouldn't be seeing this' in Younge-Ullman's work.
The story of Mara, a talented painter so beset by her demons and fears that can she can barely leave her house, is set alongside the story of Mara's childhood, and I got the rare experience of both plunging forward with the story and stepping back to applaud the technical skill and bravery of the execution. Extreme, and extremely well done!"From The National Post of Canada"Let's cut to the chase: Toronto writer Danielle Younge-Ullman's Falling Under is one of the most compelling debut novels I have read in a long time.
It is gutsy, emotional, sexually charged and, because of its second-person narrative style, unremittingly intense. Mara Foster is a screwed-up young visual artist living in Toronto. An only child, Mara was severely affected by her parents' nasty divorce when she was little, and as an adult she tries to carry on relationships with both of them. Her mother, a successful career woman, can't understand why Mara bothers with her slovenly, alcoholic dad.
Mara too often plays parent to her parents rather than the other way around, and the strain is catching up with her. She suffers from agoraphobia (though she keeps denying the term) and other deep-rooted anxieties. Her relationships with men are equally fraught and she carries a huge burden of guilt .