A Child Out of Alcatraz

by Tara Ison

Book Overview

Searing, and yet enormously compelling, this stinging portrait of the downward spiral of a mother and young daughter will haunt the reader's days and dreams. Olivia grows up in a neighborhood like... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0571199100
• ISBN13: 9780571199105
• Release Date: January 1997
• Publisher: Faber & Faber
• Length: 266 Pages
• Weight: 0.95 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.0" x 5.8" x 8.5"

Customer Reviews

Give this unusual book a chance

You can only wonder at how a novel with THAT title and THAT cover could possibly interest a reader enough to pull it off a shelf, much less finish it..... but then Tara Ison weaves a spell of wordcraft that draws you into her studied world of prisons, chains and islands both real and metaphorical. This is neither a children's book OR a satirical take on convicts. It is a sad, realistic depiction of a mother's slow-motion breakdown as recalled in stages by her daughter. What is unusual is that the landscape of this drama is Alcatraz Island, the cliche backdrop of many a criminal saga. Even more unusual is that Ms. Ison mostly ignores the prison in order to vividly bring to life the small town community outside of it. You fully expect the author to use the prison to charge the narrative with breakouts, gunfire and maybe even a brush with the infamous Birdman, but Ison willingly resists the obvious temptation, thus keeping faith with the natural flow of the story. But the Island's notorious history is not ignored, in fact Ms. Ison's thorough research brings both Alcatraz and her characters completely to life. With such beautifully atmospheric detail and such grasp of the mindsets of the wartime and 50's eras, it is startling to discover that Ms. Ison is far too young to have personally witnessed those bygone days. This is not HER story but a carefully crafted work of imagination. By all means give this unusual first novel a chance.

A hell of a great surprise

A friend recommended this, and I read it reluctantly (a mom and daughter on Alcatraz?), but it was a really great surprise. I usually read non-fiction, and there's a lot of it here -- but it's there to enhance the story, which is incredibly moving and original. Anybody even slightly interested in prison life, the painful power dymanic within families, California history, or the real struggle of women in American society -- a pretty broad, electic subject range! -- will find it all here, and love this book.

Family Issues That Are "Not Talked About" - A Must Read

WOW, mental illness, forgotten dreams, unbelievable potential shattered, these issues and so much more are quietly, almost hypnotically, approached. The analogy between the family falling apart and the prison (Alcatraz) falling apart are subtle yet searing. Make yourself another pot of coffee or tea, you will not want to leave this book. It will stay with you for a long time!

Powerful and disturbing - an incredible reading experience

The book goes beyond the standard 'coming-of-age' story to achieve something not unlike Dorothy Allison's "Bastard Out of Carolina" or Margaret Atwood's "Cat's Eye." There are really three stories at play here, each one enriching the others: The mother's story, which shows the gradual erosion of a once independent woman; the daughter's story, which is intensely personal and painful (breathtaking observations and metaphors); and the story of the island itself, relayed in documentary style fashion. By the end of the book the island seems to become a metaphor for the disintegration of the 'picture-perfect' American family of the 1950s.

An intriguing, depthful novel that keeps you wanting more.

The interwoven chapters of fact and fiction add depth and character to the storyline. The metaphors throughout the book illuminate the message behind the text. When the last page is read, you feel as though you have been on a journey that you want to continue to explore..